


Devil Inside Me - What if... (Winterspider AU)

by Nelalila



Series: Devil Inside Me [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Bottom Peter Parker, Bucky Barnes Feels, Dark Tony Stark, Domestic Avengers, Emotional Manipulation, First Dates, Fluff, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Bucky Barnes, Insecure Peter Parker, Invasion of Privacy, Jealous Tony Stark, Jealousy, Kidnapping, M/M, Non-Consensual Touching, Obsessive Behavior, Older Man/Younger Man, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter is 18, Possessive Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Bucky Barnes, Stalking, Top Bucky Barnes, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, winterspider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:49:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 48,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21999262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nelalila/pseuds/Nelalila
Summary: It felt good… almost too good. Closing his eyes, Peter instinctively pressed his bottom and back against Bucky’s body, not caring about the people around them. He’d never even been able to hold hands in public, so the thought of being so close to someone else was thoroughly exciting, if not overwhelming.Peter and Bucky start dating, much to Tony's displeasure. Not able to bear seeing his baby boy with the man he despises, Tony tries to get Peter back by any means necessary.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Peter Parker, Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Series: Devil Inside Me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1585903
Comments: 625
Kudos: 684





	1. [01]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an Alternate Storyline/Ending to [Devil Inside Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20701250), starting from chapter 14. If you stumbled across this fic and want to read it without going through 45,000 words first: Tony and Peter had been in a secret, somewhat abusive relationship for almost two years. Tony never wanted to come out because of childhood trauma and internalized homophobia, so he always manipulated Peter into not saying anything even after he had turned legal, while at the same time cheating on him with Pepper. After Peter had threatened to leave him, Tony promised he’d come out on his eighteenth birthday, but then Pepper told Tony she was pregnant and he chickened out, resulting in a really bad fight between Peter and Tony and their eventual breakup. 
> 
> **Warnings:** Tony is a mostly dark, possessive, horribly jealous character who’d do anything to keep his “sweet angel” away from other men.

Peter was staring at the phone, clutched tightly by his sweaty, trembling hands as if it was a bomb, threatening to blow up and tear him to pieces any second. Should he, no, could he actually do this? What if he made a complete foul of himself? Bucky had seemed so uncomfortable (if not embarrassed) when Peter had tried to flirt with him on his birthday, and yet he couldn’t stop thinking about it. If Bucky hadn’t at least thought he was cute in some way, he wouldn’t have blushed but simply laughed it off like the others had done, right?

It had been almost four weeks since Peter and Tony had broken up and now that Ned had left for MIT, the boy felt sort of lonely. Sure, he still had May and MJ, but the girl was always on his butt telling him to download Tinder, and it was really starting to get on his nerves. Yes, it would be nice to have someone to go out and - Peter blushed slightly for admitting it - have sex with, but he doubted anyone could easily fill the empty, aching hole Tony had left in his heart. Especially not some stranger he had never even spoken to before.

However, Bucky was no stranger… he was an extremely attractive friend Peter felt comfortable around, but he was scared. First of all, he was afraid that Bucky would reject him for basically a million possible reasons, because let’s be honest… why would he want to date him? What did Peter have to offer? He’s a broke college freshman whose whole relationship experience concentrated on getting manipulated and cheated on for almost two years.

And last but not least… _what if Bucky told Tony?_ Peter clearly remembered all those incidents when his ex-boyfriend had been enraged and blinded by jealousy.

And yet, despite all those fears and doubts, Peter couldn’t help opening Bucky’s contact on his phone for the fifth time. He just had to jump over his shadow and do it, but … should he send a text or call him? Texting him would be the easy way out, no doubt, but it might also lead to misunderstandings...

Peter took a deep breath and touched the “Call” button. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his throat, stomach clenching nauseatingly, which got worse by every unanswered BEEP taunting his ears. After the seventh ringing, Peter put the phone away from his ear, ready to hang up and-

“Hello?” Bucky’s voice came from the speaker, panting slightly.

Although Peter was close to a panic attack, he quickly put the phone back to his ear. “B-Bucky?” His voice was rasp, sounding very unlike himself. Or rather very much _like_ himself, if he was being honest.

“Peter? Is it you?”

“Y-y-yeah. Uhm. Hi.”

“Hey! How’s is going? Have you started college yet?”

Peter let out a sigh of relief. At least the man’s first question hadn’t been about why he was calling him, of all people. “I uhm. I-I’m good. College started last week. It’s uhm, fine, I guess…”

“Is everything alright? We really miss you, you know… It’s been oddly quiet around here for way too long."

Peter felt a wave of happiness wash over him, yet he had no idea how to respond to this other than stuttering out a lame “T-Thanks, I, uhm, I miss you guys too.”

“Why don’t you come over tonight? We’re having our weekly Avengers dinner.”

“A-Actually, I’m busy today, but…I w-wanted to ask you, uhm… i-if you maybe… I mean, it’s okay if you don’t, but… I…I…” Shit. Why the fuck had he decided to _call?_ It would have been so much easier to send a simple text, but nope, he had to be stupid and-

“What do you want to ask me?”

“N-Nothing, it’s fine, just ignore me, I-I’m sorry. Uhm…M-May’s calling me, I have to-“

“Were you intending to ask me if I wanted to … hang out?”

Peter gulped. Fuck. Now what, genius? “K-Kinda.”

Bucky stayed dangerously quiet for a while. “What did you have in mind?”

“I-I don’t know, j-just… g-grab something to eat m-maybe?” The boy’s voice was not rasp anymore but weirdly high pitched, making him sound like a little girl rather than a confident, flirty young man.

A few more quiet seconds went by, causing Peter to anxiously bite his nails. “I guess we can do that. Do you have time tomorrow? We could meet at Dodo’s pizzeria in Brooklyn. It’s on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights. 7 pm?”

“S-Sounds great.” Actually, it didn’t. Bucky didn’t exactly seem excited and probably only agreed because he didn’t want to hurt Peter’s feelings. _Awesome_.

“All right. Cool. See you there.”

* * *

“Sir, you told me to notify you immediately if there’s any incoming or outgoing calls or texts from Mr. Parker on Mr. Barnes’ phone. Mr. Parker called Mr. Barnes 5 minutes ago. Their conversation lasted 3 minutes and 4 seconds.”

Tony, who had been dozing off in the tub for the last 15 minutes, awoke with a start. “What? What did they speak about?”

“Sorry, boss, you didn’t tell me to record it. I can only do it during the call and-“

“All right, all right. Just make sure to do that next time... Do you have any visual recordings of Barnes speaking to Peter?”

“No. Mr. Barnes was inside his bedroom. There are no cameras installed in there.”

Tony cursed and got out of the tub, quickly rubbing himself dry with a towel. Had the boy asked Bucky out like he had threatened on his birthday? Considering nothing had happened during the last four weeks, Tony had started to think Peter had only been joking, but now he suddenly questioned everything again. Fuck. He’d have to try and find out what they’d been talking about. Good thing he’d see Bucky at dinner anyway.

At 6:30, Tony rode the elevator down to the Avenger common rooms where the man’s eyes immediately glanced around, trying to find Barnes. There he was… over at the pool table, talking to Sam. It would be fatal to just walk over and confront him with it, so Tony waited until everyone was halfway through the main course when he mentioned Peter as casually as possible. “I’ve been thinking about inviting Peter over next week,” Tony said into the round and took a sip from his glass of wine.

“Great idea,” Natasha answered with a bright smile, “He hasn’t been here for ages. I texted him two weeks ago but he seemed a little off… like… as if he didn’t really want to talk. Short sentences, no emojis.”

Steve frowned. “That’s unusual. I hope he's not upset over anything regarding us... I mean, I know he tried to act all tough and grown-up on his birthday but he’s more sensible than we think.”

“I just want to wrap him in blankets and make sure he’s fluffy and cozy,” Rhodey sighed dramatically. “Can we do that when he comes over?”

And then, Bucky actually participates in the conversation. “He seems to be quite busy with college.”

Steve looked at him questioningly. “Really? How do you know that?” _Thanks, Rogers._

“He called me earlier and we talked for a bit.”

“Did he sound okay to you?”

“Yeah, I guess. I actually told him to come over for dinner today, but he said he didn’t have time.”

Since nobody asked Bucky why Peter had called him of all people to have a nice little chat with, Tony eventually cleared his throat. “I didn’t know you two were such close friends… Unless you took his word and have actually asked him out?” Tony grinned, trying to play it off as a joke.

It seemed to work because Bucky snorted amusedly. “And give you and Rhodey a chance to freak out and go all ‘Dad’ on me? Keep dreaming.”

Whereas everyone else busted out laughing, Tony only fake smiled. Even if he believed Barnes for now, he’d definitely keep an eye on him and make sure that FRIDAY recorded any future conversations.

* * *

The next day passed by way too fast. When 7 o’clock came closer and closer, Peter realized that he was in no way ready to go on date (was it even a date??) with Bucky. Not necessarily because his mind drifted off to Tony every other minute (because it did and for some fucked up reason, the boy felt as if he was cheating on him), but because he was afraid that he’d make a complete fool out of himself. Also, he felt somewhat guilty thinking about his ex when he was meeting someone else, but if he didn't want to stay single for fifty more years, it was probably inevitable to start dating again despite not being completely over Tony yet.

Since Peter didn’t have the guts to cancel anyway and most certainly didn’t want to stand Bucky up either, he found himself standing in front of the restaurant with shaking legs at 6:55 pm. Taking a deep breath, Peter gathered as much courage as he could muster and walked into the old-looking building, letting his eyes wander over the occupied tables.

Not knowing if he should be relieved or terrified when he spotted Bucky sitting in a rather dark corner at the further end of the restaurant, looking _dashing_ with his casual man bun and three-day-beard, he wobbled over. A few yards before he arrived at the table, the other man noticed him, flashing him a bright smile _._ “Hey, Pete.”

Bucky stood up and extended his hand, causing Peter to blush slightly and shake it awkwardly. _Definitely not a date._ “Hey.”

“Have you ever been here before?” Bucky asked after Peter had sit down.

“Uhm… Not that I know of.”

“I love it here... it’s an old family business. I already used to come here with Steve back in the early 40s.”

Peter, who didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that he used to forget that Bucky was _one hundred fucking years_ old, quickly ducked behind the menu. “R-Really?”

“The pasta is amazing, and the pizza… it’s the best one in all of New York, trust me. They use traditional Italian recipes.”

“My aunt prefers going to places like this too. She immigrated from Italy when she was a child.”

“She did?” Bucky sounded surprised. “I didn’t know that. Can you speak Italian?”

“Only bits and pieces. I hardly see her side of the family because they don’t live in New York.”

“Isn’t it your mother’s or father’s side too?”

“No. My father was my uncle’s brother. I have no living blood relatives.”

“Oh, I’m … really sorry, Pete. I know how it feels to be the last one of your family.”

Peter looked up just in time to see a dark shadow casting over Bucky’s face. “I uhm… I’m sorry too. About your family, I mean.”

“It’s fine, let’s not-… Have you made a choice yet?”

The boy busied himself with the menu again and eventually nodded, so Bucky beckoned the waiter over and looked at Peter encouragingly. “I’ll take a Rustica Provenciale. W-Without the onions, please.”

“And I’ll take the Pomodoro, Joe. And can we have two glasses of Tignanello 2013?”

The waiter’s eyes glanced over at Peter, gaze lingering for a few seconds. “Does your friend have his ID with him?”

Now it was Bucky’s turn to blush. “Oh, I, uhm. He’s not 21 yet, sorry, I didn’t think. Just… one glass, then, and-?” He looked at Peter questioningly.

“A-A glass of coke, please.”

After _Joe_ had left, they both stayed awkwardly silent until Bucky eventually cleared his throat. “By the way, Tony said he wants to invite you over next week.”

“H-He said that? When?”

“Yesterday at dinner. They all really miss you.”

Peter’s stomach twisted nastily. “D-Did you tell anyone we’re, uhm, hanging out right now?”

“No, I didn’t want to give them any wrong ideas.”

“ _Wrong ideas?”_

“Well, you know… Tony immediately inquired if I asked you out when I mentioned you calling me.“

“Y-You told him that?” Peter groaned, clenching his fists under the table. _Oh god._ “What did you answer?”

“Nothing, really. Said I didn’t want him or Rhodey to go all ‘dad’ on me. They have a hard time imagining you going out on a-… I-I mean, uhm, grabbing something to eat with another man, especially someone like me.”

Despite Peter almost losing his mind about Tony already sniffing around and asking weird questions, he couldn’t help feeling one or two butterflies fluttering in his tummy. “D-Do you think of this a-as a…d-date?”

The question clearly made Bucky uncomfortable and if he had been Tony, he most certainly would have snapped at him right now, but instead, he blushed again. “I don’t know, to be honest. I mean… I’ve known you for two and half years now and I’ve immediately liked you because you’re kind, funny and extremely clever. Not to mention _very cute_.” Bucky smiled, causing the boy’s stomach to do a somersault. “It’s just… I’ve never seen you that way. Please don’t get me wrong, but… you are _young. Very_ young. You were what, fifteen or sixteen when we met? And now you just started college... If you were ten years older, I wouldn’t feel so weird about it.”

Peter took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn’t sound too cocky. “What difference does it make if I’m eighty-three or seventy-three years younger than you?”

Bucky’s mouth dropped open and he simply stared at Peter for a few seconds before he busted out laughing. “Jesus Christ, I didn’t know you were so cheeky.”

“There’re a lot of things you don’t know about me, _James_. I actually don’t mind if my, uhm, date or whatever is older. I mean, I don’t have a f-fetish or something, but… I’d rather you didn’t tell anyone about this, but the ex-boyfriend I mentioned on my birthday wasn’t in high school or college anymore.”

The older man raised his eyebrows in surprise. “How old was he?”

“Not as old as you, obviously, but he actually looked older because he’s a normal human being.”

Then Bucky’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, but didn’t you say you lost your… I mean, that you were sixteen, when…Was this the same guy? You do know that’s not exactly legal, right? ”

“Well, it’s in the past and it’s not my problem if anyone happened to find out. Also, I’m not going to tell you his name or anything, I just want you to stop worrying about the age gap. Also, w-why don’t we just talk and eat and s-see how it g-goes?” It felt weird taking the lead, but what was the point of flogging something to death that couldn’t be changed anyway?

Fortunately, Bucky didn’t object and instead, raised his wine glass the waiter had served a few minutes ago. “All right. Let’s drink to our maybe-date then, shall we?”

Peter grinned and clinked glasses with the older man. “To our maybe-date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this wasn’t too exciting yet but in contrary to Peter/Harry I want to actually establish this relationship :) I don’t know how many chapters it will have yet, but I will keep them a little shorter than in the main story.


	2. [02]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Link to Starker AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22119184/chapters/52793800)  
> Thank you for your amazing support and interest after the first chapter, hope you like this one as well 🖤🖤

Chatting with Bucky was a lot less awkward than Peter had thought. The man asked him details about his friends, his first week of college, how long he had had to struggle with after being bit by the radioactive spider and how May had reacted when she found out. In return, Peter couldn’t get enough of hearing about Bucky’s life before the war and he laughed his ass off when the man shared some funny stories about him and pre-serum Steve the teen had never heard before.

Before either of them knew it, it was almost 11 pm, and with a sigh, Bucky beckoned Joe over, paying for both meals and all the drinks they had. When Peter offered to pay him back his part of the meal, Bucky shook his head amusedly. “You’re invited, of course.” The boy blushed and stuttered a heartfelt thanks. Afterwards, the men left the restaurant and walked a few yards down the road. “Are you tired yet or are you up for some dancing?”

“Dancing? Uhm, sure. I’m not tired at all.”

Bucky grinned. “Perfect. There’s a nice club a few blocks down. We can-“ He was cut off by a very exciting looking girl jumping in front of them out of nowhere, blocking their way. “Oh my god, I’m such a big fan of you, Mr. Bucky! Can I get a pic with you, please?”

Peter sighed inwardly. Of course. Bucky's world-famous too. Great. The man glanced at Peter questioningly, who forced the corners of his mouth into a fake, hopefully unfazed smile. “If you hand me your phone, I can take the picture.”

“Oh my god, thank you,” the girl squeaked and put an arm around Bucky’s waist, beaming. The one or other passer-by looked over interested and soon, there were eight more people waiting to get their picture taken. Peter wanted to scream, but instead, he smiled and took picture after picture until a girl asked him if he was the Stark Industries intern often hanging out with Tony Stark. “I uhm… I was his intern, yes.”

“Can I get a picture with you too?”

Pearls of sweat started to build on Peter’s forehead. “Uhm…thanks but I-I-I mean, I’m not a celebrity so I really… I d-don’t want pictures of me anywhere on the internet. S-Sorry.”

“Oh, okay,” the girl seemed upset, “I mean, I wouldn’t post it if you didn’t want to but it’s fine.”

“Sorry,” Peter mumbled again when she walked away and glanced at Bucky, who’d finally managed to free himself from the small crowd of people. “Let’s get going, shall we? There’s a VIP area in the club where nobody will bother us. I normally wear a hoodie or a cap and it works out rather well most of the times, but today I hadn’t thought it would be necessary.”

“It’s all right. I’m used to it.”

“Yeah, because of Tony, right? Must have been a lot worse than this.”

“It was.”

“Did anything happen between you, by the way?”

Peter gulped. “W-What do you mean?”

“Come on… you used to be down in the lab with him every two to three weeks, but Happy said he hadn’t had to pick you up for four weeks now. Also, you looked pretty worn-out after he had taken you aside on your birthday and I remember you refusing to accept his present.”

“Yeah, w-we did have a small fight, I guess. Because of the car. I don’t really want to talk about it, but he’d gotten a little mad and I said a few things he didn’t want to hear. But that’s it and… I’ve just been busy with saying goodbye to Ned and starting college and so on.”

“I know it’s not my business, but I know he cares about you a lot and since he wants to invite you over next week-“

“Can we please _not_ talk about Tony right now? Tell me about the club instead. What kind of music are they playing? What do you listen to, anyway?”

Bucky frowned, but didn’t push the topic any further. They talked about music (especially the older man's unusual taste - EDM, metal as well as music from the 30s and 40s) until they arrived at the club. The doorman seemed to know Bucky pretty well because he let them in for free. Peter still had to show off his ID though, receiving an embarrassing “Under 21” wristband in return.

As soon as the boy had stepped into the main room of the club, he knew clubbing wasn’t really his thing. The music was ear-shatteringly loud, the air was reeking of smoke and sweat, and there were way too many people. It got slightly better when Bucky lead him away from the overcrowded dance floor into a sealed off area labeled “VIP”, guarded by another doorman.

“You come here often, don’t you?” Peter teased when the man let them enter immediately.

“Yeah, I used to come here every two weeks while I was dating Carl because he lived in Queens as well. Don’t worry about him being here, though. He moved to Seattle.”

Bucky guided him over to one of the lounge chairs where they sat down and ordered a beer and another coke. He finally took off his leather jacket and although his metal arm attracted a few glances from the other guests, nobody bothered them. The VIP area wasn’t nearly as crowded as the main floor, but there were quite a lot of people here too. Peter didn’t recognize any of them, figuring they might just be some rich kids from the suburbs or Influencers or whatever. After ten minutes, Bucky eventually suggested going to the smaller dance floor near the VIP entrance, and the boy sheepishly agreed.

The club alternated between playing edm and hip-hop songs, music genres Peter occasionally liked, but had no idea how to dance to. What if he looked completely stupid? In fact, the boy was a lot _stiffer_ than usually, not knowing where to put his arms, how to move his hips, bounce his head or do _anything_ , actually. Just when he wished the floor would open up and swallow him, Bucky’s hands were on his hips, pulling him closer.

“Just relax, Pete. Let the beat of the music guide you. You don’t have to care about what anyone thinks if you let go and just dance.” He gently turned the boy around and stood behind him, circling his hips. His hands applied a soft pressure on his hip bones, sending a shiver down Peter’s spine that went straight to his dick. It felt good… almost _too_ good.

Closing his eyes, the teen instinctively pressed his bottom and back against Bucky’s body, not caring about the people around them. He’d never even been able to hold hands in public, so the thought of being so close to someone else was thoroughly exciting, if not overwhelming. Before he knew it, the tightness in his jeans had increased dramatically, causing him to blush deeply. Fortunately, it was pretty dark in here so he didn’t think anyone would notice, but when he finally tried to move his hips to the beat, the fabric brushed against his erection, eliciting a quiet moan from his throat.

“That’s what I was talking about… you can move so well,” Bucky murmured in his ear, sending another jolt of arousal through Peter’s body. Okay, forget Tony, forget…great. When had telling himself to not think or forget about anything _ever_ worked? Still, he shouldn’t care, right? Actually, Tony could fuck himself and be happy with Pepper and his child, Peter wouldn’t let himself be miserable any longer. Not when he was dancing with this extremely hot guy, getting hornier by the minute. Fuck Tony Stark.

Within the blink of an eye Peter had turned around, gotten up on his toes and pressed his lips against Bucky, not giving any shit about anything anymore. The man was right, who cared about-

It took Peter a few seconds to realize that the taller one wasn’t kissing him back. Immediately, the boy opened his eyes in consternation and pulled away. Embarrassment, shame, irritation, sadness – it all came crushing down on him at once, and an instant later, he had struggled free, eyes burning, cheeks flushed. “S-Sorry,” Peter choked out before hurrying off the dance floor, heading straight for the exit.

He was almost out the door when Bucky caught up to him, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the empty corridor leading towards the toilets. Peter half-expected to get smashed against the wall and snapped at, but instead, Bucky turned to face him rather gently, looking horribly uneasy. “Pete, I-“

“I’m s-sorry, I-I didn’t…I didn’t mean to, it just-“ He was silenced by Bucky putting his gloved hand over Peter’s mouth, and although it wasn’t a brutal gesture, the teen still tensed immediately.

“No, _I’m_ sorry. I…I didn’t mean to freeze. It’s just… I didn’t expect you to be so… initiative. You caught me off guard and I didn’t know how to react.”

Bucky promptly took his hand off Peter’s mouth when a few tears escaped his eyes. “Because you don’t l-like me enough to k-kiss me? You p-pressed into me, so I thought…”

“Honestly, I had a lot of fun today, more than I thought... Which is why I don’t want to make out with you now, only to act like nothing happened afterwards. Also, I admit that I still have a few restraints doing this with someone your age.”

It was too confusing for Peter. “I already told you I don't care about that. Also... why can’t we make out _without_ acting like nothing happened afterwards and… just repeat it?”

Bucky shook his head, chuckling. “Wow, Pete, I really didn’t expect you to be so confident.”

He was _not_ confident. And yet, Peter tried to smile as seductively as possible, hoping his voice wasn't shaking anymore. “As I said… there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.” Gathering all of his courage, he went for Bucky’s lips again. At first, the man hesitated just like before, but then he finally kissed back hungrily, forcing his tongue into Peter’s mouth after only a few seconds of dry kissing. It was fierce, overpowering and _oh so hot,_ albeit it missed the almost animalistic claiming that Peter was used to from Tony.

And then Bucky did something the teen had secretly always been craving for; he cubbed Peter’s cheeks and neck with his hands, holding him in place firmly, but gently, causing the boy’s dick to twitch and melt under his touch. He put his own hands around the man’s back to pull him closer even closer, desperately trying to withhold from rutting against Bucky’s leg.

They stayed like that for a while, tongues exploring every inch of each other’s mouths, both fighting to gain the upper hand until they were forced to break apart and catch breath.

“I-I want you.” The words were out before Peter had made up his mind about whether this was a good idea or not, but he hadn’t been so horny, so filled with desperate need, for a very long time.

Bucky groaned, his body pressing Peter against the wall, making him feel the man’s _very_ obvious hard-on as well. “What do you want me to do, boy?” Oh god, Peter was going to _die_.

“I-I…P-Please, touch me.” He couldn’t resist any longer and buckled his hips forward, ripping a growl from Bucky’s throat. The man glanced towards the toilets, only to sigh deeply and pull away from Peter a tiny bit. The boy immediately whelped at the loss of touch. “I really wished I could do that, but I…I don’t want to do this in a toilet.”

Normally, Peter would have thought the same thing, but for some reason the idea of getting bent over in a dirty toilet booth sounded oddly hot right now. He _needed_ Bucky. “I-I don’t care, I-“

“No, Pete. Sorry.” Bucky laughed and a second later, his body wasn’t even close to touching Peter’s anymore. “I don’t want our first-, uhm, I-I mean… I don’t want to do it like that.”

“L-Let’s go somewhere else, then.”

“Where to? My place? Bad idea. Your place? Bad idea too. Listen, I want to you too, please don’t think that I don’t, but why don’t we wait a little, so we have something to look forward to?” Smirking, the man kissed Peter again before he even had a chance to object, muffling his weak protests successfully. After they had finally parted again, Peter croaked out a lame, “S-So you want a...a second _d-date_?”

“I'd love to, but, uhm, only if you want too...?” Suddenly, the man seemed a little insecure, but it vanished the second that Peter nodded eagerly. Good thing he remembered when May would be working the night shift... “Absolutely! What about Wednesday? Want to pick me up?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think I'd let them do the dirty so soon, did you? ;) Remember, ANGST is my middle name lol and also, I want Bucky to be a little different and not take the first chance he gets to bang Peter (maybe the second though? hehe 😏)  
> BTW, did you notice why Peter and Bucky managed to date in this version compared to the original one? What tiny detail made the difference? :)


	3. [03]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Peter go on a second date. Tony gets suspicious.

On Sunday morning, Tony received his daily report from FRIDAY just after he had dragged his tired ass into the bathroom at 7:00 am.

“So, no calls or texts to or from Barnes’ phone?”

“No, sir.”

“How did Peter spend his day?” It was an ordinary question he had started asking almost two weeks ago, although he knew that FRIDAY could only track the boy through his phone or his suit.

“He was presumably home until 6:15 pm. At 6:53 pm he arrived at 419th Vanderbuilt Avenue in Brooklyn.”

“Huh? What’s there?”

“A residential building with twelve apartments and an Italian restaurant called Dodo’s pizzeria. He stayed there until 11:09 pm when he moved to 67th Hanson Place. There’s a club located at the address. Mr. Parker left at 0:38 am and arrived back home at 1:02 am.”

It was only the third time in those four weeks that Peter had eaten out and the first time he had gone to a _club_. Usually, he used to go to MJ’s or Ned’s place after eating, but Tony didn’t think it was too worrisome, especially when FRIDAY confirmed that Bucky’s phone hadn’t moved all day and night.

An hour later, Tony got into the elevator to head down to the lab, but exited at the Avenger floor to ask Bruce if he wanted to help him with an experiment both men had debated about on Friday. Steve was bent over the kitchen isle, reading the newspaper while sipping his coffee. “Morning, Tones.”

“Morning. Is Bruce up yet?”

“Uhm, I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him. You can go look but… please, don’t forget to knock again.”

Tony grinned, remembering very clearly what he had found in Bruce’s room a few weeks ago. “I _did_ knock.”

“Knocking still loses its purpose when you burst through the door only a second later.”

“All right, all right, don’t shit your panties, Rogers, I’m not that suicidal.” Dealing with the Hulk? Anytime. Dealing with a vivid Nat because Tony had caught her doing… well, something she was apparently very good at? Never again. With a smirk, the engineer walked into the corridor leading towards the bedrooms, trying not to snort when an oddly smiling Bucky shuffled out of his room. “Hey Tony, what you’re doing here so early?”

Close up, the Winter Soldier actually looked rather tired. “Early? It’s after eight already, you sack rat.”

“Well, I’ve come home late, so excuse me if I-I-I” – Bucky yawned extensively – “’m still tired.”

Tony almost pissed himself right then and there. “W-What? I thought you’d-… I-I mean, where have you been?”

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “Just… in the city. Meeting a friend.”

It was extremely hard to stay calm. Since when did Barnes have any non-Avenger _friends?_ All he'd ever done was talking about (ex-)boyfriends. “I see. Like, at a restaurant?”

“Uhm… yes. Why?”

“Just curious. We hardly ever speak, so I, uhm, realized I don’t even know what you like to do with your _friends_.”

“I wonder why,” Bucky said dryly, not even trying to hide the fact that he had no intention answering any more of Tony’s questions. “Now, if you excuse me, I need a coffee.”

As soon as the man had walked out of sight, Tony hurried over to the guest bathroom a few feet down the corridor. Closing the door shut behind him, he took a deep breath before snapping, “FRI, why did you say Barnes was home all day and night?”

“I never said he was, boss. You asked if his phone was logged in at the compound.”

“Yes, because this is how you track people. Do you know where he had gone to yesterday evening?”

“He got into the Audi A6 at 5:51 pm and drove all the way to Brooklyn, 825th Dean Street.”

“Is that close to any of the locations Peter was at?”

“Yes. 13 to 16 minutes by foot.”

In less than a seconds Tony was raging inwardly. Had those two dared to meet right under his fucking nose or was it a mere coincidence? He asked FRIDAY to scan Social Media and news outlets for any possible sightings of Bucky, and after five minutes, he was provided a few results; pictures with fans, but not any sign or indication that he’d been with Peter or anyone else, for that matter. Still, Tony needed to act, quickly, before anything like this happened ever again. “Tell me as soon as Bucky or Peter leave their homes or call or text one another. Send the notification to my phone, in case someone’s with me. Anything else you can wait until your daily report.”

To Tony’s greatest relief, nothing happened during the next few days. Bucky only left the compound once, going to a fucking bowling center with Steve and Sam. Peter, however, did leave regularly, mostly heading for college. Every other day he stayed in Manhattan for a while longer, and twice he visited the building of the TheDailyBugle, whatever the fuck he was doing there. On Wednesday evening, Tony left Pepper in the kitchen as soon as FRIDAY had sent him the notification about Bucky taking one of the cars again, alone, this time.

“Where’s Peter?”

“At home.”

“Are you sure? It’s not just his phone?”

“Yes, sir. The drone you’ve stationed there hasn’t registered him leaving the house again after coming home at 5:13 pm.”

Satisfied, Tony went back to help Pepper with the cooking. Nothing to worry about.

* * *

The last couple of days, Peter had been ~~over~~ thinking a lot. At first, he’d still felt great disappointment about Bucky not wanting to sleep with him, but the more he had thought about it, the better it had made him feel. Bucky had said that he didn’t want to fuck him and act like it never happened. He wasn’t just in for the sex, which had to be a good thing, right? The only problem was, that Peter had been so fucking horny since the date and he didn’t know how to deal with it. He was a teenager, for Christ’s sake, and at the moment he thought that he’d never wanted anyone more than he wanted Bucky right now.

Therefore, Peter was horribly nervous when Bucky rang the doorbell, and it got even worse after he had invited him to come up. “May’s not home, s-so I thought… w-we could order pizza or something and… watch Netflix?”

The corners of Bucky’s mouth twitched. “You want me to _Netflix and Chill_ with you?”

The boy blushed deeper than ever before. “I-I mean… m-maybe?”

“You know what? I wouldn’t say no to a comfortable evening.” With a teasing grin, Bucky stepped inside and looked around the small apartment with interest, gaze lingering on the framed photographs on the wall. “Is that May?”

“Uhm… yeah.”

“Holy shit.” Bucky whistled. “She looks quite young. I wished I could say that I now know where you got your good looks from, but considering you’re not related to her…” Grinning, the man stepped closer to Peter, put his fingers under his chin and tilted it slightly upwards so the boy would look at him. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”

“R-Really? What did you-”

The rest of Peter’s question was lost when Bucky placed gentle kisses on the boy’s temple, cheek and nose, setting his veins on fire. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how desperately I wanted to kiss you again.”

Peter mewled at the sweet talk and leaped up, putting his arms around Bucky’s neck. Their lips found each other and at first, they were only kissing, albeit passionately, but then, Bucky bit down on Peter’s bottom lip, careful not to hurt him, and started to nibble at it. The older man’s gloved hand was cupping his cheek whereas his human hand was moving down to Peter’s firm bottom, kneading it through the denim.

It’s so arousing and overwhelming all at once that the teen could hardly do anything than whimper feebly and letting himself be engulfed in pleasure. The only thing keeping him down on earth was his painfully hard erection pressing against his jeans, and after some moments, he couldn’t take it anymore.

Freeing his mouth, Peter pulled away, voice hoarse when he spoke. “I-I can’t handle this, s-so if you don’t want to go any f-further, please stop and…l-let’s watch a movie instead.”

The older man flashed him a sheepish smile. “You’re right, uhm, I’m sorry. I also wouldn’t say no to order food, but maybe not a pizza since we’ve had that last time we met?”

Although Peter’s dick was still hard, the sexual tension was gone in an instant, much to the boy’s satisfaction _and_ dissatisfaction. “Sure, uhm… What do you want instead?”

They settled on Sushi, and as soon as Bucky had placed the order, Peter vanished in the bathroom to cool down. _Holy shit._ Bucky was such a good kisser... With him, the boy felt like sixteen again, always being way too aroused in too short of a time. How should he be able to survive this evening?

To pass the waiting time for their food, they started watching the first season of Stranger Things. Peter had already seen the show, but he didn’t mind watching it again. At least it didn’t have any explicit or steamy sex scenes to get them heated up again.

Half an hour later, the delivery guy arrived, so they stopped the video and started chatting. To Peter’s greatest enjoyment, Bucky was completely incapable of using chopsticks. When the third Nigiri in a row landed on the coffee table instead of Bucky’s mouth, Peter was dying from laughter.

“Stop laughing,” the man eventually pouted, but not without grinning himself. “I’ve never been able to do this. I think my 'eating with chopsticks motor skills' are underdeveloped.”

“It's because you’re holding them wrong,” Peter giggled and leaned over. “The bottom one kinda stays still... It’s basically only the top one moving.” He grabbed the man’s hand and tried to readjust the chopsticks, not missing how the skin of Bucky’s palm felt rough whereas the skin on the back of his hand felt extremely soft.

“You _are_ still speaking about chopsticks, right?” Bucky grinned, causing Peter to frown confusedly. “Uhm, yeah, what else would I--” When it dawned on him, he flushed with shame. “Oh. I-I mean, that wasn’t…I didn’t mean to imply that-”

“Tell me, Pete,” the man said, voice dripping with arousal, “do you like it when the top one takes the lead?” Suddenly, Bucky’s metal hand was resting on Peter’s lower back, slowly slipping underneath his shirt.

“I-I-uhm… W-Who says that I’m not the-“

He jerked when Bucky grazed the boy’s skin with his gloved fingertips, causing the man to drop his chopsticks. They landed on the flow with a soft clatter, but neither of them cared. Instead, Peter found himself in Bucky’s lap without even knowing how he got there, once again kissing fiercely. The man’s hand slipped underneath the rim of Peter’s jeans, only to caress, tickle and knead the boy’s flesh once again.

When they pull apart, Bucky’s voice is deeper than ever. “I have to apologize, Pete. I thought I could stay strong and go through with what I said last time, but… I can’t seem to be able to control myself around you.” He grinned, giving the teen’s ass another firm squeeze with his metal arm that almost hurt a tiny bit. _The_ _good kind of hurt._

“T-That means…?”

“We wouldn’t be breaking our promises if we were only messing around a little, would we?”

* * *

One hour and 16 minutes after receiving the notification about Bucky moving, Tony inquired about an update on Peter’s location, just to make sure everything was still okay and under control. “Mr. Parker hasn’t left his home.”

“Awesome. Where did Barnes go to?”

“45 41st Street in Sunnyside, Queens. He arrived there 36 minutes ago.”

Tony nodded absentmindedly, but only until his brain had eventually processed the information. “Wait, what? Show me the log of Barnes’ GPS data.”

Anger surged up within him in seconds. There was no doubt - Barnes had straight up driven to Peter’s address.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The decision changing the story was Peter taking up the courage to CALL Bucky instead of texting him. Therefore, Tony didn't have time to delete the message on Bucky's phone and block Peter. And... I just realized that in the original storyline Peter died thinking Bucky rejected him 😲😥 Tony did mention Bucky in his rant, but it wasn't made clear that Tony had deleted it I think kasjksdndk ok I'm crying now.


	4. [04]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony looks for a way to mess up Peter's and Bucky's date.

“Want to show me the bedroom where it’s more comfortable, or do you want to stay here?”

“Uhm, s-sure, it’s behind that door over-“ Peter yelped when Bucky grabbed his thighs and stood up, hoisting him. Out of instinct the boy’s legs wrapped around the man’s hips, barely able to hold back on grinding against the strong body when he’s kissed again. For a few seconds, Peter’s vaguely reminded of Tony carrying him to the bedroom like this before; it _hurt_ , thinking about it, but the excitement of what was to come was stronger.

After Bucky had flung the door open, he ended the kiss to glance around for the bed, only to look somewhat guilty when his eyes drifted over Peter’s school books and the old Star Wars posters on the wall. _Oh god._

Mustering all his courage, the blushing boy grabbed Bucky’s chin, forcing him to focus his eyes back on him. “I _want_ this, James. Stop thinking about stupid age gaps. _Please_.”

The man groaned. “Fuck, Pete, I… I love it when you call me that.”

 _“_ You mean when I call you _James?_ ” Peter teased, only to yelp in surprise when he’s flung onto his small, single bed without further warning. In seconds, Bucky was over him, pressing the smaller one’s body down with his weight, kissing him once again hungrily, yet still gently. Their clothed private parts brushed against each other, causing them to feel each other’s erections. Peter wished he could wrap his legs around Bucky’s hips once more and grind into him, but they were trapped underneath the man’s thick, strong thighs, leaving him with no other choice than to squirm.

To his relief, the man pulled away a few seconds later, if only to take off his jacket and shirt, providing Peter with a view of his muscular, _scarred_ torso. Since Bucky hadn’t been at the pool party that had Peter falling head over heels for Tony, he’d never actually seen him shirtless before. He was _sosososohot_ , no doubt about that, but seeing the scars caused Peter’s heart to ache.

“Sorry if it makes you feel gross.” Clearly misinterpreting Peter’s gaze, Bucky shyly waved his metal arm. “I can put the jacket on again if you-“

Peter quickly shut him up with a firm, short kiss. “Don’t you even dare. It’s pretty lit, actually. It’s just… I realized I’ve never seen you shirtless before.”

Fortunately, Bucky seemed to believe him. “Well, I haven’t seen you shirtless before either. Do you want me to change that?” Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Peter’s shirt and pulled it over his head, eyeing the thin, yet muscular body with a lustful gleam in his eyes. “Oh, shit, Pete, your…I feel like a creep saying this but… your illicitly young-looking body turns me on more than I’d like.”

“You’re pretty dashing for a hundred-year-old dude as well,” the boy joked in return, hoping it wouldn’t take the sensual tension away from them, but Bucky actually laughed and retorted with, “You better be careful if you don’t want me to _punish_ you for being naughty.”

For some reason, the prospect of being punished didn’t sound all too threatening. Instead, it sounded oddly arousing, despite Peter having some restraints with it in the past. It’s just… he didn’t think Bucky would want to do anything the boy wasn’t comfortable with...right? “You do know I’m stronger than you, though?”

“Hard to know considering we’ve only fought each other once, and I did go easy on you then,” Bucky teased, causing Peter to snort. “Oh yeah? That’s not how I remember it. I remember you gaping at me like a goldfish when I caught your cute little arm with a single hand. And although you teamed up against me with Sam, I had you two webbed down in a few seconds.”

“Now that you mention it, you sure seem a little kinky with all that webbing.” Peter wasn’t sure if Bucky was serious or not, but he still blushed deeply. Actually, he wasn’t, or… was he? He had no idea what he really liked since his sex life had always revolved around Tony and what _he_ had wanted and liked to do, hardly ever taking ‘No’ for an answer. Peter shuttered. _Stop. Thinking. About. Tony._

Lifting his head, the boy focused his mind on the hot dude lying on top of him, and pulled him in for another kiss.

When he moved his hands down to unbutton his painfully tight jeans next, Bucky caught both of his wrists and pressed them into the mattress on top of the teen’s head, entangling their fingers. “Not so fast, doll. We did say we’re taking it slow. Just... making out, right?”

The boy blushed when his dick twitched at the nickname. _Doll…_ That was something new, but he immediately loved it. Shit, now he was even more desperate to free his penis from its tight prison, especially when Bucky grinded down on him, rubbing their clothed hard-ons against each other. Fuck, he had no intention whatsoever to cum in his pants, but if Bucky continued to tease him like that, he’d surely-

A loud and sudden BANG startled both men and they both leaped to their feet in shock. “What was that?” Bucky asked whereas Peter hurried to the window, heart pounding.

His worst fear was confirmed when he noticed smoke and fire coming from the side street adjacent to the building opposite of his. In seconds, he was at his closet, took off his pants and put on the black suit Tony had given him for his seventeenth birthday, hoping his fucking erection would vaporize before anyone could spot it in the tight spandex.

“What are you doing?”

“I-I gotta go and see if everyone’s all right… You can stay here; I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Without waiting for an answer, Peter put on the mask, opened the window and crawled out, praying nobody would see him.

* * *

When Tony arrived at Peter’s apartment, Bucky had been there for almost an hour already. It was too dangerous to hover around the building, so he landed on the opposite one, facing the entrance.

Tony had only actually visited Peter once, and that had been before him and May moved, meaning he had no fucking idea what apartment to focus on. He definitely couldn’t make out anything, not even by scanning the well-lit windows. What he could see, however, was Bucky’s car almost directly in front of the building, about to get towed away because it was parked in the non-standing area.

Tony couldn’t suppress a gloating chuckle, but it died as soon as he started to worry that Bucky might use it as an excuse to sleep over… _Over his dead fucking body_.

Thinking intently, Tony analyzed his surroundings with his helmet vision. Nobody could get hurt and he didn’t want to destroy someone else’s property either… His eyes settled on a dustbin container in the side street of the building he was standing in, and after scanning the area close to it for any mammalian life forces, he flew further away before firing a missile at it. The container blew up with a loud BANG, and only seconds after Tony had hid at the top of another building, he could see a few faces appearing at different windows of Peter’s apartment. The boy would come out, he was sure of it… but what if he took the suit?

“FRIDAY, make sure to hide my location and any signals and vital signs from KAREN. Peter must not spot me.”

“Roger, boss. Incognito code activated.”

Next, the man zoomed in on Peter’s building with his night vision, smirking triumphantly when he saw the boy crawling out of his window, wearing the black suit he had gotten him last year. As soon as Peter was on top of his building, he swung over to the burning dustbin, checking fastidiously for any further damage or injured people before swinging around to check the surroundings.

“FRIDAY, I want to see a live broadcast of Peter’s vision, but don’t let KAREN know.”

A few seconds later, Tony was able to see and hear everything the boy did. After ten minutes, Peter swung back to his apartment, crawling through the window only after KAREN had confirmed to him that nobody was watching.

What Tony saw next, made him feel as if he was in the middle of a horror movie. _Barnes_. _Was. Really. There._ Casually leaning against a doorframe of what had to be Peter’s fucking room, looking _concerned._ Well, at least he was fully clothed…

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. A dustbin container got blown up. Probably some kids from the neighborhood. But your car has been towed away I think.”

“Wait, what? Oh shit, I totally forgot about that. Are they gone already?”

“Uhm, yeah, sorry, I only noticed when I got back.”

Unfortunately, Peter took off his mask then, ending the transmission. A fear he’d never felt before had taken a hold of Tony’s body. _He couldn’t let them be alone in there._ He couldn't let Bucky touch his angel, especially considering he was a living, ticking time bomb. 

Since he didn’t have any other idea, Tony fired another missile in the air, and seconds later, Peter had taken the mask back on, swinging out into the night once again. This time, Tony didn’t even let him head back inside before causing a third explosion with one of his mini drones.

The Iron Man mini drones weren’t exactly like the one in Peter spider suit; they had a built in self-destruct mechanism, and although they didn’t cause a lot of harm, they were perfect to chase Peter all around Queens.

After the fourth explosion, the boy asked KAREN to call Bucky, causing Tony to lean forward in anticipation. “Hey, uhm, this might take a while, I…I’m sorry, but maybe you should head home.”

“What is going on? Is it still dustbin containers blowing up?”

“No, it’s just explosions now, actually. I have no idea what’s happening, maybe someone’s trying to mess with me… wouldn’t be the first time.”

“This doesn’t sound good, Pete. Do you want me to help you?“

“That’s really sweet, but… No offense, but I don’t think you’d be a lot of help from down there.”

“All right, but promise me that you’ll be careful, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

In an instant, Tony was seething. Who the fuck did Barnes think he was? Peter’s fucking _boyfriend_? Chuckling, the boy assured him he’d be careful and asked if they wanted to meet again on Saturday. When Bucky agreed, Tony couldn’t help sneering. That date would never happen; he’d make sure of it. He had to think of a way to stop whatever is going on between them, because if they even so much as _kissed,_ the man would lose his shit.

Problem was, he couldn’t hurt Bucky without anyone finding out about it and he didn’t exactly want to kill him either. No, that would be way over the top… _Think, Tony. Think…_ What was Barnes greatest weakness? Hurting Rogers was out of the question, but… Smirking, the engineer watched the Winter Soldier exiting the apartment complex a few minutes later, waiting for a cab. 

He’d just had a dangerous, but _promising_ idea. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it ❤️ What plan might Tony have? 👀


	5. [05]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony invites Peter to the weekly Avenger dinner. Peter gets to know a different side of Bucky.

On Friday, Peter had just started on a difficult essay for his science class when May knocked on his door. “Sweetie, you have a visitor.”

She had left before he could even ask who it was, so he dragged his ass out into the living room, only to freeze in astonishment. “Rhodey? Steve? What are you-“

The words died in his throat when May came out of the kitchen, accompanied by _Tony._ “Hey, kiddo.” The man’s voice was soft, but his gaze was oddly calculating. It was a shock, seeing his ex-boyfriend walking casually around his apartment after all the shit that had happened between them on Peter’s birthday and… after Bucky. _What the fuck was he doing here?_

When Peter realized that he was still rudely gaping at the three Avengers, he quickly cleared his throat. “Uhm, h-hey guys, what are you doing here?”

May seemed slightly star-struck; she was bustling around Steve and Rhodey, offering them coffee, tea, water, soda, milk and hot chocolate before they both assured her kindly that they didn’t want anything.

“Our weekly Avenger dinner is today, and we wanted to make sure you didn’t turn us down again,” Rhodey winked.

“So we’ve come here to pick you up. No excuses, kid,” Tony added, flashing him a forced-looking smile.

“Uhm… I-I’m actually really busy with college stuff, so-“

“You have _all weekend_ to finish that though, right?” Tony interrupted him, his gaze deep and penetrating.

Steve fatherly put a hand on his shoulder. “Please don’t feel pressured into coming with us, Pete. We’re just starting to get a little worried, that’s all.”

The last thing Peter wanted was for any of them worrying about him; they had always been so kind to him and he did miss them too. It wasn’t their fault that Tony had turned out to be a lying cheater.

“Y-You really don’t have to, I’m fine… I uhm, I’d like to come, uhm, I guess I can finish my work tomorrow or something.”

Ten minutes later, Peter found himself trapped in the back of a car next to Tony. Since Steve was driving and Rhodey was riding shotgun, the two ex-lovers were forced to sit next to each other in the back. Relieved about the fact that there was at least one seat separating them, Peter fumbled his phone out of his pocket and sent Bucky a short message.

_P: “Coming over for dinner. Please don’t say anything about our dates. SORRY!”_

_B “Don’t worry, I don’t want them to roast me. Not yet, at least ;-)”_

Despite him feeling awful, Peter couldn’t suppress a quiet giggle, catching Tony’s attention. “Funny joke?”

 _Seriously?_ “Uhm, not really. N-Ned just texted me.”

Then, Tony had the fucking nerve to ask him how Ned liked MIT, emphasizing what a great opportunity it was for him. It made Peter so angry he didn’t even respond and asked Rhodey and Steve whatever he could think of, just so he didn’t have to talk to Tony anymore. The man didn’t seem like he didn’t want him to come over, but why? This had to be as awkward and painful for him as it was for Peter, right? Unless he never really cared for him that much in the first place...

Fifty minutes later, the four men stepped into the living-dining area of the Avenger apartment, where Peter’s eyes immediately darted to Bucky. He looked dashing as ever, making it really god-damn hard not to show how much he rather wanted to kiss him than shake his hand. 

Everyone was so nice; they told him how much they missed him, and when Nat pulled him into a tight embrace, she refused to let go again for almost a minute. “I don’t know what I’d do without my baby spider,” she sighed and kissed him on the temple, causing him to blush.

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been, uhm, really busy,” Peter said and walked over to the table.

“How’s college so far?” Sam asked and sit down next to him.

Peter was somewhat glad; he didn’t want either Bucky or Tony next to him, albeit for different reasons. To his misfortune, Tony took the seat almost directly in front of him. Peter could sense that he was watching him intently, but he tried to ignore him and instead chatted with Sam about college.

When Clint addressed Tony half a minute later, it caught Peter’s attention though, because his ex didn’t even seem to hear him at first.

He risked a glance, but Tony chose this exact moment to look at Clint. ”Hugh?

“I’ve asked you three times now if you wanted some wine.”

"Uhm, s-sure. Sorry, I’ve been thinking about my latest experiment.” 

“The one we’ve been talking about?” Bruce asked and sat down next to Tony. “Yeah. That one.”

Peter pretended not to listen and fixed the flower bouquet on the table, but then Bruce addressed him. “Hey, Pete, want to come down with us later? Tony had a fantastic idea about nano-tech and symbiotes.”

“Uhm…” The boy glanced at them. “M-Maybe, I guess, I mean, we’ll see after dinner, I-I think? I don’t want to get home too late.”

“We haven’t even started eating,” Natasha huffed and took the empty seat on Peter’s other side, “I don’t want you talking about leaving already. I hope you like the meal, it’s Russian. Boeuf Stroganoff.”

“I wanted to make Chili Con Carne, but was overruled,” Bucky sighed and winked at Peter _,_ who immediately blushed and flashed him a shy smile.

They were still in the middle of the meal when at 7:50 pm sharp, FRIDAY reported that there was an incoming call from Secretary Ross. “He says it’s important, and that he needs to speak with Mr. Barnes immediately. In private.”

Whereas Peter and some of the other Avengers shot Bucky a concerned look, the man only shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the corridor, probably vanishing into one of the workrooms. When he eventually came back after fifteen minutes, Peter could immediately see - and _feel_ \- that something was up. Bucky was sweating, and he was staring ahead blankly, his steps big and determined.

“What was it about?” Steve asked with a frown, but Bucky walked right past him, his empty eyes fixed on Peter. His spidey-sense _screamed_ at him to get up and run, but it didn’t make any sense, so the boy sat frozen on his seat, staring at approaching man with an open mouth. “B-Bucky, what-?”

Tony and Steve screamed in horror at the exact same moment that Bucky’s metal arm connected with the back of Peter’s head, smashing him face-forward into the table, which broke under the immense force of the blow

It _hurt._ It was in no way comparable to any punch Peter had ever felt before, and for a few seconds, everything went dark and weirdly dull. While he was lying between the two broken halves of the table, covered in food, dishes and drinks, he heard muffled screams above him, screams of pain and fury. A tingle went down his spine a second before something grabbed him by the hair and yanked him upwards. The second blow sent him flying a few yards through the room, where he crashed into the concrete wall only inches next to the large windows.

Dust and pieces of concrete were still raining down on him when Bucky was marching towards him in a blank rage, but the boy was too dazed to even get up and defend himself. Was this how he was going to die? Beaten to death by his new love interest in front of his ex-boyfriend and the mightiest heroes on earth?

Peter whimpered, eyes swimming in tears. By the time Bucky was only two more steps away from him, he struggled to get up and, in his despair, opened his mouth to plead, but out of nowhere a red-and-goldish-something lunged at Bucky and wrestled him to the ground.

_Tony…_

Seconds later, Wanda’s magic kept Bucky paralyzed long enough for Steve to hurry over with a syringe and inject him with something that made him fall conscious. Peter dropped back on the floor, trying to regain control of his breathing. He still felt horribly dizzy and was forced to close his eyes when everything seemed to be spinning. A movement and the sound of panting directly in front of him made him open them again.

“A-Are you okay?” It was Tony, bleeding from nose and mouth, apparently close to tears. He looked terrified.

“I…Iguessso,” Peter mumbled weakly and tried to get up, forced to cling onto his ex-boyfriend’s arm for support. When he eventually stood, Tony pulled him into a tight embrace and kissed him on the forehead. His voice was shaking when he spoke. “I thought he was going to kill you.”

“W-What happened?”

It was Steve who answered, wiping blood off his busted bottom lip. “If I didn’t know it any better, I’d say that he was triggered into becoming the Winter Soldier. But I have no idea how-“

“Isn’t that obvious, Rogers?” Tony snapped at him, “It must have been the phone call. FRIDAY, do you have a recording of the call?”

“No, but I have a recording of the room surveillance.”

Tony guided Peter to the sofa and sat down with him so closely that their knees were brushing against each other. The others joined them, but apart from Steve, Tony and Nat (she had a bruise on her cheek and was clutching her right elbow) nobody seemed to be injured, only horribly shocked. “Show us the recording.”

A hologram appeared in front of them, showing Bucky picking up the wireless phone and holding it to his ear. A few seconds later, his knees gave in and he fell to the ground, paralyzed.

“Huh? Why did he fall to the ground?” Sam asked flabbergasted.

“Can you increase the volume, FRI? We can’t hear anything.”

“It’s already at maximum, boss. The sound coming from the speaker is too silent.”

Tony cursed and asked to fast-forward. After fourteen minutes, Bucky seemed to regain control of his body, but his expression… it was almost clinical. Peter shuttered and resisted the urge to snuggle against Tony for comfort. He just… felt so intimidated and betrayed all of a sudden. Yes, he’d heard stories of Bucky going completely nuts and he knew that it wasn’t his fault when it happened, but it was something else to witness it and getting a taste of his real strength.

“He didn’t mean to hurt you,” Natasha had been eyeing Peter with concern for a few minutes now. “He didn’t even recognize you or anyone of us.”

“But…w-why did he target me of…of all of us?”

“Because whoever fucking piece of shit was behind all this either told him to, or because… I don’t know, maybe… No, forget it,” Tony said vaguely. “FRIDAY, can you at least track the call?”

“No. They used a secured line not even I can identify and trace.”

“What scares me most is that they seemed to know exactly how the protocol worked,” Steve sighed. “Normally, Bucky tries to fight hearing the trigger words, and it even pains him somewhat. And although they weren’t even here, they still found a way to paralyze him.”

Tony scowled. “Do you know what this reminds me of? Of that fucking sonic taser I developed. It paralyzed anyone who could hear the frequency. If they’re using technology like that, we’re all fucked, trust me. FRIDAY, don’t let any calls through you can’t trace and start recording every conversation spoken over any of the phones in here. Alert us if anyone of us seems to lose control of their body and… keep an eye on Barnes.” Everyone glanced over at the dead-looking Winter Soldier.

“W-What’s going to happen to him?”

“He’s usually back to normal after falling unconscious,” Steve said, “You don’t have to worry, Pete… we’re going to lock him up until we’ve made sure.”

Peter shuttered. Despite the shock being profound, he didn’t want Bucky to get hurt…Tony, however, didn’t seem to care about Bucky’s well-being all that much. Instead, he only seemed to care about Peter when he flashed him a sincere and caring look. “Why don’t you lie down in one of the guest bedrooms? ’m gonna give Dr. Cho a call, I want her and Bruce to check up on you.”

“Y-You don’t have to, I just want to go home, I-I guess, uhm, thanks.”

“I insist,” Tony said, putting his hand on Peter’s thigh just above his knee. _It burned._ Once again, Peter shuttered visibly, not knowing whether he wanted Tony to get his fucking hand off of him or slide it further up his leg.

The others probably only thought that Tony was providing him with some sort of fatherly comfort because they didn’t even blink an eye. Nat, Bruce and Rhodey even subscribed to Tony’s opinion that Peter should stay over tonight, so he felt like he didn’t have any other choice.

“O-Okay… I’ll stay, thank you guys.”

Was it just his wild imagination, or did Tony look a little too satisfied, if not smug, all of a sudden?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m SO sorry adskafsadfl.  
> If you think this is a coincidence, you might have forgotten about the original storyline already 😅👀 It will be explained in the next chapter and you will find out soon if this was already the end of winterspider.


	6. [06]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony sneaks into Peter's room in an effort to win him back.

Tony’s plan had worked almost too perfectly. First, it had already been a splendid idea to take Rhodey and Steve with him, making it almost impossible for Peter to decline their invitation. And then -

Tony smirked when he watched the advanced recording FRIDAY had kept hidden from the others. The sonic taser paralyzed Barnes in an instant and his face distorted in fear and, possibly, pain when the robotic voice started spitting out Russian words.

“ _желание. ржавый. семнадцать. рассвет. печь девять. добросердечный. возвращение на родину. один. грузовой вагон._ _доброе утро, солдат.”_

Through clenched teeth, Barnes struggled to give an answer, his eyes already blank. _“Я готов отвечать.”_

_“Cолдат, attack the Avengers. Go for the youngest first. Keep going until they put you down. Don’t kill any of them.”_

As soon as the effects of the sonic taser had worn off, Barnes did exactly what he had been told to do. Thankfully, it had worked out without anybody receiving any major injuries, not even Peter. Watching Barnes beating up his baby boy like that had hurt, but not only was Peter used to bad guys roughing him up a little bit, it had also been necessary to show him how dangerous Bucky could be. In the end, Tony knew he had only done it to keep him safe.

After all, what if Hydra or anyone else knowing about the protocol found Barnes and transformed him into the Winter Soldier when he was alone with Peter, ordering his execution?

No, he couldn’t let that happen, and he also couldn’t let Barnes sink his fangs into his sweet angel, intending to besmirch and take him away for good. Peter belonged to _Tony_ , there were meant to be together, they-

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Pepper climbed into bed, eyeing Tony’s nose with concern. The blow had actually hurt pretty badly, but Tony considered it worth it. Quickly, the man closed the video and put his phone onto the nightstand.

“Yes, I’m fine. It’s not broken or anything.”

“I still can’t believe it,” Pepper said once more, still in shock about what had happened to the others downstairs. “When Bucky moved in, Steve swore to me that he wasn’t dangerous.”

“In his defense, Barnes isn’t really dangerous unless he’s triggered, which hasn’t happened once since Civil War. Well, until today.”

“Shouldn’t we ask him to move out until we know who did this?”

 _And lose control over him? Definitely not._ Not until Peter was his again. “No. If he’s not here, we can neither protect him, nor anyone _from_ him. You heard what he did to Peter, and he’s an enhanced human being. That reminds me… I think I should look after him, to make sure he’s all right.”

“Good idea. I know you missed having him around, it would be a shame if he was too scared now to visit again soon.”

“Kid’s tough,” Tony said, “but yeah, you’re right. Go ahead and sleep, in case it takes longer.”

Fifteen minutes later, the man entered the guest bedroom Peter was sleeping in, making sure to lock the door behind him. The boy was already fast asleep, so Tony sat down on the bed carefully, watching him.

His whole body ached with love and desire. He should have never let him go… he should have told Pepper that he was in love with someone else, but that he would still support her with the child. Peter would have gotten over the cheating after a few days of pouting, and Tony would have made sure that he never told Pepper the truth. _It would have been perfect._

After a while, the man couldn’t take it anymore and carefully lied down next to the teen. Peter seemed to subconsciously feel the movement because he turned around, giving Tony the opportunity to wrap his arm around his slender waist from behind. For a few seconds the man considered slipping his fingers under the hem of the boy’s boxers, but just when he was about to move his hand, Peter stirred.

“Hey, babe,” Tony hoarsely whispered in his ear.

“…Hmmw-what…?” It took Peter two seconds before he realized that someone was lying behind him. With a panicked scream, he rolled around and jumped out of the bed, pupils dilating when he recognized Tony in the faint glow of the compound’s outside lamps illuminating the room. “T-Tony? W-What the fuck, what- what are you doing here?”

“Checking up on you. How are you feeling?”

“Checking up o-on me? C-Creeping on me while I’m sleeping, you mean?”

Tony could feel anger stirring inside of him, but he urged himself to stay calm. _He’s just flustered from earlier. Go easy on him._ “I just wanted to comfort you.”

Peter tried to steady his breathing. “You can’t just… walk in here and- Can you please leave again? I appreciate your concern, but I want to sleep.”

“You can sleep, baby. I’ll stay and watch over-“

“ _Baby?”_ Peter’s face distorted in confusion and pain. “Has Bucky hit you so hard that you’re suffering from amnesia? We’re not a thing anymore, Tony. I don’t want you in my bed, I-“ Without warning, the teenager broke into tears, giving Tony a feeling like he was getting stabbed with a knife. “I didn’t even want to come here in the first place. I don’t want to see or talk to you, especially not after-”

With a snivel, Peter broke off.

“After what?”

“N-Nothing. Forget it, j-just leave me alone, please.”

“I know what happened earlier was a shock, Peter. You know how I feel about Barnes, but it wasn’t his fault. Nevertheless, he’s someone you have to be careful around. As the Winter Soldier, he’s probably stronger than any of us. Not necessarily because of his physical strength, but because of his merciless, callous mindset, focused on nothing but killing. I want to remind you that he almost killed Steve, Nat and Sam a few years ago, and that he did succeed in killing my parents. My kind, innocent mother desperately pleaded for her life, but it was to no avail. He showed her no mercy whatsoever.”

The only sound interrupting the silence for a while were the sobs and snivels from the boy. “H-How…how are you going to help him?”

“Well, as long as we don’t know who’s out to get him, or rather, _us_ , he’s definitely grounded so we can keep our eyes on him. It’d probably be best if you didn’t come over again until we know more. That being said, he seemed pretty focused on you… Since nobody even knows about you being an Avenger, I don’t know why anyone would tell him to attack you specifically. Therefore, it’s very likely he had a reason for attacking you first. Have you said anything to him that might have angered him?”

“N-No, I don’t think so.”

“You sure? He mentioned that you called him last week.”

* * *

_Fuck._

Peter shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “S-So? Am I not allowed to?”

“I’m just pondering over the possibility of you having said anything that might have given him a strong, negative feeling towards you. I mean… you did flirt with him on your birthday. It might have given him a wrong impression. You can tell me anything, Pete, I promise I won’t be mad. It could help us figure out why he was so focused on you.”

Had Bucky been upset about Peter’s appeal not to say anything about their dates after all? Or was Tony just prying, driven by jealousy? The boy gathered all his courage. “It’s not your business why I called him, but rest assured that I didn’t say anything that could have given him a wrong impression. We were just talking for about ten minutes and it was mostly about college. I doubt he’s interested in me like that, and…I-I’m not particularly interested in him either.”

“Why did you flirt with him on your birthday, then?” Tony growled, failing at hiding his jealousy any longer.

“Because you broke my heart, Tony.” Fresh tears were slowly running down Peter’s cheeks and his voice was shaking. “Do you know how it feels to sit there and listen to the love of your life happily announcing his engagement to someone else? Someone he had supposedly broken up with years ago but who suddenly was having his child? And even then, you still tried to lie to me when claiming it only happened once, although I know for a fact it didn’t. I wanted to hurt you by flirting with Bucky, but you only got angry and fucking hit me, showing me just exactly how much I actually meant to you.”

Tony stood up from the bed and marched towards Peter with big steps, causing him to flinch and duck away. The man managed to catch his arm, but instead of hitting him again, he pulled him closer. When he spoke, he sounded oddly broken. “I know I hurt you, baby boy, and I- I panicked, okay? I didn’t know what to do, but I do now. I’m breaking up with Pepper so we can be together again.”

For a second, everything else was forgotten. Peter didn’t even try to wriggle out of Tony’s tight grip. “A-Are you serious?”

“Yes. I love you, more than anything.” And just like that, Tony’s lips were on his own, the familiar taste sending a rush of warmth through Peter’s whole body. The man moved backwards, pulling the younger one with him, and after spinning them around, he broke the kiss and gently pushed Peter down onto the mattress. Only when Tony fumbled with the cords of his sleeping pants, Peter realized what he was doing. And how fucking wrong it was, for so many reasons.

“We can’t do this.”

Tony froze. “What?”

“We, I mean, _I_ can’t do this. I-I just... I just can’t. I want to be alone now.”

“I already told you that I’m breaking up with Pepper, what more do you want? I’m sorry what I did, I really am, but it’s not going to happen again, I swear. I thought you loved me?”

“I-I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. I can’t, I- Please, leave me alone, _please!_ ”

“Listen, I know you went through a lot today, but-“

“This is not about today! This is about you lying to me for years! Do you expect me to forget about everything just because you suddenly claim to have had a change of heart? I-If you really cared about me, you’d just l-leave me alone”, Peter sobbed, tired of hearing even more possible lies and excuses.

“You just need more time, that’s all.” Tony stepped closer to the bed, but Peter flinched and slid further onto the mattress. “I-… N-No, I just-“

“Ssh. It’s all right. I won’t push you… we have all the time in the world. If you really want to, then I’ll leave you alone and let you get some rest. I love you, you know that, right?”

 _Anything to make him shut up and leave._ “I… Y-Yeah, I-I guess. Thank you. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, baby boy.” Tony leaned down and – after a second of hesitation – placed a tender kiss on Peter’s forehead before finally leaving the guestroom.

As soon as the door had shut close, the teenager was overwhelmed by a new wave of tears. He knew he should have stood strong on not wanting to speak to Tony ever again or at least, should have been more honest about his feelings and about Bucky, but he just couldn’t do it. First, it had been anger and fear that made him hold back, and then…The kiss had completely startled and confused him.

Was Tony really serious about breaking up with Pepper or was it just another trick? But even if he was serious… would Peter be able to forgive him for all the shit he had put him through? Would he ever be able to trust him again? 

Whereas Peter’s brain clearly answered these questions with ‘no’, his heart wasn’t as confident and strong. But even without Tony fucking up his mind once more, there were still Peter’s conflicting feelings towards Bucky. Before today, resisting Tony’s venomous plights would have been a lot easier, but now that his new love interest had tried to kill him…

_It wasn’t Bucky’s fault._

But, just like Tony had said, he was still _dangerous_ , a weapon, a killing machine, something Peter would not have believed until a few hours ago. Now everything was different, and the boy couldn’t help but feel _guilty_ about almost sleeping with the man that had killed his ex-boyfriend’s parents, a fact he had recently forgotten about.

_It. wasn’t. Bucky’s. fucking. fault!_

He had been held captive, tortured, experimented on and manipulated, for decades. Who was Peter to judge him after all he had been put through? The _real Bucky_ had been nothing but kind and gentle to Peter. It had made him feel so _sheltered_ , excited and… enamored, but now all he felt was fear. It wasn’t fair.

When Peter lay down, he was once again tormented by the idea that he might have said anything to Bucky that might have angered him. Although he was scared, he knew he had to talk to Bucky about it first thing tomorrow. He owed him that much…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I put a _'It would have been perfect'_ moment in here too :D After all, we humans tend to ponder about numerous “what ifs” whenever something bad happens, even though we don’t even know how things would have developed.  
> Also, if this feels repetitive to the original storyline: it's intentional because Tony would always try to sabotage Peter's relationship in whatever way he can and try to win him back, and Peter also react similar to his advances. I promise though that there will be a few surprises along the road (I think we're about halfway through the story?) and that it will not have the same ending ;)


	7. [07]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony does his best to break Peter and Bucky up for good.

When Peter went to Bucky’s room first thing next morning, he found it empty. Nat told him that he’d been put into one of the secured rooms of the infirmary on the second floor, but warned him about going there. “There’s always a risk that he’s not completely himself again. As long as we don’t know what his mission was and why he had been so focused on you, you should stay away from him.”

Peter mumbled a thanks, wanting to take the risk nevertheless. Steve, who was sitting outside of Bucky’s room to keep watch, unfortunately didn’t. “I can’t let you in there, Pete, I’m sorry.”

“Please, it will be quick, I just- I need to talk to him. Alone.”

“He’s only been conscious once since we’ve injected him with the serum, and he didn’t seem very attentive then. I won’t risk you getting hurt again.”

Just when Peter opened his mouth to argue, he heard footsteps and a voice coming from behind him. “What is going on here?”

_Tony._ Peter spun around, failing at completely hiding the look of guilt on his face. “M-Morning.” _Why was he up so early?_ _And why did he have to come here, of all places?_

“Morning,” Tony replied rather coldly before looking at Steve. “What is going on?”

“Peter wants to see Bucky, but don’t worry, I’ve already told him it was too risky.”

Tony’s piercing gaze scanned Peter like an x-ray, making him shift from foot to foot uncomfortably. “Hm. Well, if you really want to talk to him, I can come with you and keep an eye out.”

“Tony, don’t you think it-“ Steve began, but Peter cut him off before he could make the situation even worse. “N-No, it’s fine, I…I just wanted to- I’ll wait until he’s better, no problem.”

“Are you sure? It does seem pretty important to you.”

“No, really, thanks, Tony. A-Actually, I have to uhm, go home anyway because…I really have to get some work done f-for college. Is Happy up yet?”

“No need to bother him, kid, I can drive you.”

Tony’s intimidating look and the prospect of having to spend 45 minutes with him with no way out made Peter feel rather anxious, but he didn’t know how do decline the offer without sounding ungrateful in front of Steve. “O-Okay. Uhm, thanks.”

He wished Steve, who had watching the whole exchange with a frown, a despondent ‘goodbye’ and accompanied Tony back into the elevator. As soon as the door had closed, the man snapped at him. “Why did you want to speak to Barnes? I thought I’d made myself very clear yesterday. He’s dangerous, Peter.”

“I just wanted to ask whether I’ve done anything that angered him. You said that was a possibility.”

“That’s something you could have asked him with my being present, though.”

Peter fixed his gaze on a dirty stain at the bottom of the elevator door. “I already told you that it’s not- I mean, I am not comfortable around you anymore. And now you’re going to drive me home and probably try to press me again although you promised you’d give me time. It’s suffocating me and I-I … I can’t breathe anymore, Tony.”

The second the elevator doors opened, Peter jumped out and dashed to the room he’d spent the night in, ignoring Tony’s weak ‘Wait’. After grabbing his stuff, he braced himself and went into the common room to bid goodbye to those already awake. “Don’t you want to stay for breakfast?” Nat sent him a worried, motherly look. “Vision is making fresh waffles.”

“No, thank you. I really have to go. Uhm, where’s Tony gone to?”

“He said something about waking up Happy to bring you home.”

Peter was baffled. “He did?” Was Tony actually being considerate for once?

As it turned out, he was. He appeared five minutes later to escort Peter down into the garage, but said that he had indeed asked Happy to drive him. “You’re right, babe. I promised to give you time and space to figure things out. Take all the time you need.” The elevator doors opened, but before Peter could march out, Tony held him back for a few more seconds. “I love you. Always remember that.”

* * *

It was hard to stay back and let Happy drive Peter home. Tony couldn’t get the kiss out of his head, so he had hoped to get another opportunity to show his baby boy how serious he was about all this, but when Peter freaked out in the elevator… He couldn’t screw this up. Now that Barnes was out of the way, the only person standing between them was Pepper, but Tony wasn’t naive. As long as Peter wasn’t ultimately back in his arms, he wouldn’t break up with her. Although he was confident that it wouldn’t take that much longer for them to be reunited, the fact that Peter had tried to sneak into Barnes’ room earlier was indeed worrisome. If the boy still hoped that Bucky cared for him in some way, Tony would need to make sure that the hope died as quickly as possible.

Therefore, Tony once again found himself outside of Bucky’s room two hours later, debating with Rogers whether it was a good idea to confront him with what had happened just yet. “What have you told him so far?”

“What you told me to. That we found him lying on the floor unconscious. I asked him about the phone call, but he said that he didn’t remember anything about it.”

“All right. Let’s get it over with, then.”

“Don’t you want to wait until he’s fully recovered? He’s still rather tired and-”

“No. We can’t waste any time.” With that, Tony unlocked the door and marched in. Barnes turned his head towards them, giving a weak smile. “Hey.”

“Are you feeling better?” Steve asked caringly.

“A little bit. Still kinda tired.”

“Barnes, we have to talk,” Tony cut in, looking at him rather sternly. “You didn’t fall unconscious, we sedated you.”

“Wait, what?” Bucky sounded alarmed, pupils dilating. “I thought you wouldn’t do that unless- Oh god. No. N-No, it can’t be, it- Oh my god.” He gulped, body trembling visibly. “Please tell me I didn’t hurt anyone.” Wordlessly, Tony pointed at the cut and bruise on his nose. “Oh shit, Tony, I- I’m really sorry.”

“To be honest, I don’t care about my fucking nose. I do, however, care about _Peter_.”

Bucky’s face fell. Panic-stricken, his eyes darted between the two men. “W-What did I do?”

“You attacked and beat him,” Tony hissed, “over and over again, until me and Cap finally managed to stop you. You almost killed him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Steve interfered in a calm voice, “You gave him a concussion, but-“

“Isn’t that enough?” Tony snapped at him, “Also, I think you _might_ have missed the point where I had to tackle him to the ground to stop him from doing any further damage. I talked to Peter yesterday, he bawled his eyes out. He thought he was going to die.”

“Why did he come down here to talk to him, then?”

Steve _. Fucking._ Rogers _._

“You know how he is… He feels _guilty_ that we had to sedate Bucky and somehow blames himself for all of this. Something about ‘I shouldn’t have given him a wrong impression’ or whatever.”

“What wrong impression?” Bucky asked, looking even more concerned than before.

“Well, first you should know that Peter has had a crush on my for a while-”

It was hard to suppress a grin when both Barnes _and_ Rogers looked at him in shock. “He had what?”

“Ask Pepper. She’s known about it for a while. I never told anyone else though because I didn’t want to expose him, so please keep it to yourselves. I thought the crush had faded when I announced my engagement and that I was going to be a father, but it hadn’t, which was why he started flirting with you, Barnes. To make me jealous, apparently. At least that’s what he told me yesterday. I think he’s afraid you found out about him acting interested in you for the one and only reason of making me jealous.”

Tony had chosen his words carefully. By using ‘he started flirting with you’ and ‘acting interested in you’, Barnes could not know if Tony was only referring to the birthday party or if Peter had told him about the dates too, in which case he would have to confess about them himself.

Unfortunately, Bucky didn’t inquire about it. Instead, his eyes went blank, and when he spoke, his voice sounded sullen. “Mhm. Well, I can assure you that I don’t care about who Peter has a crush on and I never took his attempts at flirting seriously. But even if I had taken it seriously, I wouldn’t have known about him only doing it to make you jealous. Not until now. Therefore, I wouldn’t have had any reason to be angry at him.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t take you as a creep anyway. I mean, technically you could be his great-granddad, couldn’t you?” Tony said, flashing Bucky a mean smirk. “So, you’re sure you aren’t angry or upset with him in any way?”

“No.”

“Hm. Then we’re left to speculate why you only targeted him and not anybody else. You really don’t remember anything from the phone call?”

“No.”

“Anyone out there who could hate you except Hydra and that Zemo guy? He’s still in prison though, we already checked.”

“No. Not that I know of.”

* * *

At 9 pm, Peter couldn’t take it anymore. He _had_ to speak to Bucky, so he grabbed his phone and sent him a short message.

_P: “Are you awake?”_

When he still hadn’t had received a reply on Sunday, he gathered his courage and called him, but the ringing went unanswered. He tried it three more times and sent two more texts until he had to accept that Bucky either didn’t have access to his phone or didn’t want to talk to him.

On Tuesday, Peter called Nat and straight out asked her about Bucky. “Well, he’s back to normal, but we still don’t know anything, really. He’s pretty upset about what he did, especially to you.”

“I was afraid he would be, so I tried to contact him, but… he’s not answering my calls or texts. Does he have his phone?”

“Uhm, yeah, he has it, but… Hm. I mean, right now all calls and texts to any of our phones go through FRIDAY first, maybe it got stuck there? Although I highly doubt she’s seeing you as a threat.”

At this point, Peter wouldn’t be surprised if Tony had given the order to not let any of his messages or texts to Bucky through, not after he had nagged him about it so much. “Okay, that sounds like it could pose a problem… Maybe they’re afraid Bucky would get triggered again just by reading or hearing my voice?”

“It doesn’t work that way, though. Not that I know, at least. Should I ask him if he received your texts?”

“Actually… could you maybe let me speak to him? Please? There’s something important I need to discuss with him. Please… You said he wouldn’t get triggered by it.”

The woman pondered about it for a moment. “I mean, I don’t think so. I’m no expert on super soldiers, but… I guess we can try?”

“Thank you.”

Peter listened to her walking through the compound, presumably heading for Bucky’s room. Half a minute later, he heard her knocking on a door. _“Peter wants to talk to you.”_

The boy shuttered when he could very clearly hear Bucky’s reaction. _“Tell him that I’m busy.”_ So he had been dodging his calls… _ouch._ Even worse, Peter couldn’t help being ashamed now about deeming it possible that Tony had tried to interfere.

_“He’s on the phone right now, идиот.”_

Bucky cursed in Russian before taking the phone. “Hi.”

“H-Hey.” Anxiety threatened to overwhelm him. “Uhm…h-how are you doing?”

“Peter…I’m sorry what I did to you. I really am, I- I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t myself.”

“I know that it wasn’t your fault. That’s why I wanted to talk to you… I didn’t want you to think that I-… W-Why have you been ignoring me?”

Bucky sighed, long and extensive. “Mainly because I’m ashamed that I attacked and hurt you. Especially after… everything. I was convinced you hated me now.”

“No,” Peter said, taken aback. “N-Not at all, I- I know this wasn’t you. The real you is kind and gentle and I’ve never- I-I mean, I know we have only gotten closer recently, but nobody has ever been so-“

“Stop it, Peter. Please. I- You don’t have to soft-soap me. But rest assured that I wasn’t upset with you or anything. I really have no idea why I was so focused on you.”

“W-Why would you think I’m soft-soaping you?”

“Forget it. It doesn’t matter. I’m glad you don’t hate me, but I still don’t think we should… you know… _meet again._ Unless it’s an Avenger thing.”

Peter had never been more confused in his life. “What, w-why? I’m not scared of you, I know you wouldn’t-“

“It’s not about you being scared of me. _I_ am scared of me, and what I could do to you if I became the Winter Soldier again. Especially now that I know about… You know what, forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

“N-Now that you know _what_?”

Once more, Bucky sighed. “I am too old for games, Pete. I really enjoyed spending time with you and I wished your intentions had been as honest and sincere as mine. Now that I know that they weren’t, though, you don’t have to pretend anymore. And I’m not mad. I get it, okay? I am, however, upset, and if I got triggered again… I don’t know what I’d do, and I most certainly don’t want to find out. Please don’t call me again. Bye.”

Peter was too shocked and baffled to react. For what seemed like minutes he stayed seated on his bed, listening to the oppressive silence sounding out of the phone. What the fuck had this been about? Had Bucky just ended their _fling_ or whatever it was they had? Because of… what, exactly? What games was he referring to, and…why would he think Peter was pretending? Pretending what?

After the initial shock had worn off, Peter started crying. However, to his own surprise, he felt less upset than irritated. Irritated about Bucky being all secretive and hanging up without explaining anything. No matter what Bucky might be thinking right now, what they had, had been real and _promising_. There had to be a misunderstanding and this time, Peter would not just give up and accept it.

Without hesitation, Peter called Happy’s number, but he didn’t pick up. He spent ten more minutes trying to call May and even MJ in hopes that anyone could drive him upstate but it seemed that today wasn’t his lucky day. Not wanting to call Happy’s emergency number or chase any of the Avengers down to Queens, he eventually gave up and ordered an Uber, knowing it would probably cost him his last penny.

Hopefully, it would be worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating last Friday, I had been too busy to finish the chapter :( I'm not quarantined or in Home Office, I actually doubled hours at work and things are so stressful. I am so happy I finally found the time to finish it and I didn't want to wait any longer and decided to post it immediately and not tomorrow. Sorry if it's a little sloppy. Hope you're all safe ❤


	8. [08]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter confronts Bucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating for so long... To make up for it, the chapter is almost twice as long as usual ;)  
> Also, because I realized some of you think that Peter is going to the Avengers tower: the tower was sold in Homecoming, therefore he's going to the compound, which is somwhere in Upstate New York ;) This is why he can't just swing there and why Happy or Tony had always picked him up.

Fifteen minutes into the drive, Peter realized he’d forgotten his phone in his haste to get ready before the Uber arrived. It didn’t really matter, but now he couldn’t send May a short text about where he was going in case she worried.

Traffic was slow, so it took them almost an hour to get Upstate. The driver stopped a few yards away from the closed entrances gates and turned around with a big grin on his face. “I’m afraid we can’t go any further unless you have business with the Avengers.” The driver chuckled, apparently taking him for a fanboy.

“That’s fine, I can walk from here.”

“Dude, you can’t just _walk_ in there. This place is guarded pretty well, and-“

“Yeah, yeah. How much is it?”

“Uhm, 67 dollars and 50 cents.”

Peter handed him some bills, thanked him and got out of the car. He waited until the car had driven off before facing the code lock, entering the 10-digit code Tony had told him ages ago. The camera scanned his face and a second later, FRIDAY’s voice came out of the speaker. “Hello, Mr. Parker. Should I send someone to pick you up?”

“Uhm, no, please don’t tell anyone that I’m here. It’s uhm, a surprise, kind of...” The last thing he wanted was for Tony to intercept him and ask why he was here.

“Okay, Mr. Parker. Welcome back.”

With that, the gates swung open and Peter jogged down the road, being grateful that Tony didn’t have any human security guards apart from Happy. To be fair, the security drones and suits were a lot more useful and dangerous; they literally saw almost everything that went on around here, but since Peter was an Avenger himself, they didn’t question anything he did.

Therefore, he managed to get to the accommodations block without any problems. Feeling slightly guilty, Peter shot a web at the security cameras on the backside of the building where the Avenger rooms were located before crawling up the veneer. He knew he had to crawl up to the fourth floor, but which window belonged to Bucky’s room? Carefully, Peter glimpsed into the windows one by one, hoping the man was actually in his room.

He sighed in relief when he was actually lucky for once. When he risked a glance into the sixth room, he saw Bucky lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Very carefully, Peter knocked on the window with the knuckle of his index finger. The older man shot up alarmed and turned around wildly, looking for the source of the noise. When he spotted Peter, his mouth fell open in surprise, but only a second later, his eyes were sparking with anger. Slowly, he moved closer to the window and opened it two inches. “What the fuck, Pete?”

“Can you please let me in?”

“No, I-I told you to stay away from me. I am dangerous, I-“

“Please. I have my webshooters with me. I mean, I can enter through the lobby and officially request to talk to you, but… I don’t really want to discuss, uhm, all of this in front of the others… But if you rather have it that way, then-“

“No, I- … Pete, I told you, there’s nothing to talk about. I’m too old to play games, I-“

“Hey, you were the one saying all these cryptic things and hanging up on me without any further explanation. That’s not exactly a mature thing to do.” Bucky growled, but despite what had happened last week, Peter surprisingly wasn’t really scared of him. “I promise I will leave you alone if you really want, but first, I want to know what I did wrong. _Please._ ”

With a long, defeated sigh the older man reluctantly opened the window and let Peter in. “Maybe you should… web me to the wall or something, just in case.”

“I mean, if you really want to, I can… Guess I’m on the kinky side after all,” Peter joked, trying to ease the tension a little bit. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to work; Bucky’s eyes were cold. “You really don’t know what you did _wrong_?”

Peter tried to swallow the lump in his throat. “I-I don’t. You said… that there was no need for me to pretend anymore and that you know my intentions haven’t been sincere or some shit. And…t-this really hurt, okay, so… please enlighten me about what gave you the idea because I’ve been nothing but sincere about- about this.”

“Tony told me, Peter.”

Whatever it was that Peter had suspected, this was not it. In shock, he flinched, stumbling backwards. “He- he told you? E-Everything?”

“How am I supposed to know what _everything_ is? But yes, he told me about you trying to make him jealous.”

“W-Wait, what? I- I don’t want to make him _jealous_ , I don’t even- he doesn’t even- W-What have you told him about us?”

“What do you mean? I told him nothing, I thought- I thought you did? Since you told him that you were afraid that you’ve given me a wrong impression or something?”

Peter’s head started to hurt. “Okay, _what_ did Tony tell you exactly?”

“Hm, not much. Just that you have a crush on him and that you lost it when he announced his engagement, which is why you flirted with me during your party. And that he thinks I might have found out about it, although…I honestly don’t think he knows that we’ve … met.”

In a pang Peter felt a vast array of emotions – confusion, shock, fury, anger and relief. Tony didn’t actually _know_ anything; he was just sticking to his bullshit theory. However, one revelation caused Peter to bristle with rage. “He told you I had a _crush on him_?”

“Uhm… yeah. What, are you saying he lied?”

Peter opened his mouth, one second away from blurting out the truth- but he couldn’t. It wasn’t his right to out Tony, no matter how badly he had wronged him. Also, if Bucky connected the dots correctly, he might find out that Tony and Peter had been dating before it had been legal, something Peter wouldn’t even wish his worst enemy. Tony didn’t deserve to go to prison for statutory rape just because he had turned out to be a cheater. Peter had wanted it too, after all. It wouldn’t be fair.

“Uhm… I mean… I- I did have a crush on him, to be honest but that was months ago. I didn’t ask you out because I wanted to make Tony jealous… I even asked you more than once to keep it a secret because I did _not_ want him to find out.”

Bucky frowned. “What about your birthday?”

Peter hesitated, but decided to be honest. “I might have hoped to make him jealous, yes. But I swear, everything that came after that only happened because I was genuinely interested in you. If you remember that stupid fuck-marry-kiss game from ages ago, then you’d know that I’ve always found you attractive. I…I _r-really_ like you, Bucky, you have to believe me.”

Tears formed in Peter’s eyes, and he was overcome with a sudden urge to kiss the older man. However, when he leaned forward, Bucky hold out his arm and stopped him. “W-We still… we still can’t do this anymore.”

Peter failed at hiding his disappointment. “W-Why not? Don’t you b-believe me?”

“I… I guess I do. But it doesn’t change the fact that I hurt you and I wouldn’t forgive myself if it happened again.”

“James, you are hurting me _right now._ I’m not scared of you; I’m only scared of you pushing me away and… ending this before we even had a chance to…to...”

Pain sparked Bucky’s eyes when he opened his mouth to protest, but before he could have said anything, Peter had already pushed his arm away and leaped up on his tiptoes. He grabbed the older man’s head with both of his hands and pressed their lips together, desperately licking into his slightly parted mouth.

At first, Bucky hesitated, keeping his arm between them as a sort of barrier, but after a few seconds, his resistance crumbled and he responded to the kiss, careful at first, but then fiercer, fighting Peter’s tongue for dominance. A moment later, Bucky’s hands were on his hips, squeezing his flesh hard enough to bruise, causing Peter to gasp in pleasure. He knew what he wanted to do, and this time, he wouldn’t let Bucky talk him out of it again.

He forced himself to break the kiss. “Is your door locked?”

“Uhm… no. I don’t even have a key right now because they want to make sure they can come in if…if something happens.”

“Screw that.” Without thinking, Peter pulled down his sleeves and shot a web at the door and the adjusting wall. Bucky looked at him befuddled. “Uhm… how long does it take to dissolve?”

Grinning, Peter fumbled with the older man’s belt. “Two hours. We better make every second count, right?” Bucky barely managed to raise his eyebrows in confusion when Peter had already opened the zipper and moved his hand forward, feeling the man’s bulge through his boxers.

“Peter, we can’t possibly-“, the man started, only to be cut off by Peter gently squeezing his dick. “Please, James… I really, _really_ want you.”

“But what if- if I get triggered again.”

“You won’t,” Peter said, sounding more confident than he actually was. “Also, last time I was paralyzed from shock and didn’t know what was even happening.”

“Promise me you’ll punch and kick me with all your might if I snap.”

“Promise. Now, can we please make out again?”

Bucky grinned, shaking his head in mock despair. “You are quite something, Pete. I’ll be damned, but… oh, fuck it.” With a groan, he bent down and caught Peter’s lips once more, kissing him so hungrily it seemed he wanted to devour him. Without letting go, the man pushed the smaller one back until Peter felt the edge of the bed in his knee pits. A gasp later, they both tumbled onto the bed, Bucky towering over Peter’s small frame, pressing him down with his body weight.

However, a few seconds later, the older man rolled them around, careful not to fall off the small bed. Peter tensed slightly, but then he gathered all his confidence and sat up, straddling Bucky. Tony never really let him get on top while they were making out… sometimes he had pulled him into his lap when he had been sitting upright himself, but never like this. He shuttered when Bucky’s human hand slipped underneath his shirt, moving up until he brushed against his nipple, eliciting a gasp from the teen.

“Do you really want this?”

“Y-Yes, please,” Peter whimpered when Bucky gently squeezed his nipple and grinded his hips down, feeling something _hard_ pressing against his buttocks. He gasped when Bucky sat up and slowly pulled off Peter’s shirt, admiring the fine muscles underneath once more.

“You’re so beautiful, Pete.” The man kissed him again, gently and lovingly, but still passionately. While his metal arm rested on Peter’s neck, his human hand fumbled with the button of his jeans, eventually opening it as well as the zipper. When the boy felt Bucky’s fingers touching him through his boxers, he gasped and shivered, causing the man to drew his mouth back. “Do you… want me to get you out these?”

Peter nodded his head vigorously, so Bucky flipped them around again, kneeling between the teen’s spread legs, carefully tugging at the hem of his boxers and jeans. Peter blushed when he lifted his ass and let Bucky pull off the last pieces of his clothing, realizing that Bucky was the second person to have ever seen him like this. Vulnerable, exposed… what if the older man didn’t like what he saw… what if his penis-

“You’re so fucking perfect, holy shit,” Bucky mumbled, looking down at Peter like he’s fucking edible. However, although he seemed greatly turned on and although his blue eyes were sparking with hunger, it wasn’t intimidating like it had often been with Tony. Peter moaned when Bucky’s hand wrapped around his dick and he knew, he wouldn’t be able to last long. Which was fucking embarrassing. Unless…

Gathering all his courage, Peter sat up again, pushing Bucky down once more. “Your turn,” the boy smiled and quickly undressed the older man, taking off his shirt, jeans and boxers. When Bucky wanted to sit up, he placed one of his hands on his chest, gently preventing him from doing so. “N-Not yet.”

Peter blushed a little bit when he skidded down the mattress on his knees, eventually bending over Bucky’s groin. It was the first time he saw the older man’s fully hardened dick and for a tiny second, he regretted being so overly confident. It was definitely bigger than Tony’s and the boy had no idea how he it was supposed to fit. That would be interesting…

He lowered his head and licked over his shaft slowly, relishing the older man’s taste. Bucky’s gasp encouraged the teen to go on; after a few more licks, he carefully tilted the length towards him with his fingers and swirled his tongue around the head, tasting Bucky’s pre-cum. “F-Fuck, Pete.”

The man moaned blissfully when Peter eventually put his lips around the head, sucking gently before moving further down, taking more and more of Bucky’s enormous length until he gagged for the first time. “Shit, sorry, Peter, I-“ the man mumbled, only to gasp in surprise when Peter stayed where he was and sucked, not intending to stop anytime soon.

He waited a few seconds to brace himself before going further down, successfully suppressing his gag reflex this time. Although he knew he wouldn’t possibly manage to take Bucky’s full length, he went down as far as he could, not even hesitating when he felt the tip hit the back of this throat. He hollowed his cheeks and sucked harder before eventually starting to bob his head.

Although Bucky obviously tried to stay still, his hips eventually jerked upwards, but Peter had expected it and didn’t choke again. After a few moments, he felt the man’s fingers grabbing a few strings of his hair, gently tugging and pulling; it wasn’t rough or even painful like it was with Tony. Instead, he seemed to do it in order to gain control of Peter’s movements to some extent, and the boy found himself getting more and more turned on by the second. After minutes, he eventually stopped sucking, taking his mouth off Bucky’s dick with a plopping sound.

“I-I want to feel you.”

At first, the man smiled at him affectionately, but then his lips curled into a seductive, teasing smirk. “I’d like nothing more. Why don’t you lie down on your back, doll?”

Peter’s dick twitched at the nickname, leaking more pre-cum at once. He hastened to obey and laid down with spread legs, but when Bucky made a move to suck Peter off too, the boy stopped him. “N-No, please, just…I-If you do that, then I’m afraid that…that…”

“That it’ll be over too fast?” He blushed horribly when Bucky’s grin widened. “I thought you weren’t a virgin anymore?”

“I’m not, but… you’re turning me on _so much_ right now. And I…I _need_ to feel you inside of me, _please_.”

“Fuck, you’re so precious…so fucking perfect…” Bucky groaned before reaching over to the nightstand, fetching a bottle of lube and a condom. _Right_. Now that Peter knows that Tony had been cheating on him for two years, he should probably be more careful in that regard. “I know you said that you’ve done this before, but… please tell me if I’m hurting you, okay?”

Peter nodded eagerly, desperate to get touched. Bucky uncapped the bottle and squeezed a decent amount of lube on his fingers. Very gently, he massaged Peter’s rim before pushing the first digit it, very slowly and very carefully. The boy wasn’t used to such a slow pace, so he sheepishly requested a second finger, blushing once more.

He moaned when the second digit entered him with ease, surprised that it barely hurt despite not having had sex for almost three months now. The fingers moved and curled, exploring the insides of his rectum and stretching him open. After a few minutes, Bucky eventually found his prostate, causing Peter to arch his back and dig his fingers into the sheets. The older man took at as a sign to add a third finger, and although it hurt a little bit at first, Peter couldn’t care less. After enduring a few more minutes of getting teased and fingered, he couldn’t hold back anymore. “C-Can you please fuck me already?”

Bucky let out a mix between a laugh and a groan. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, _please_.”

After one last teasing prod against his prostate, Bucky withdrew his fingers, put on the condom as well as some more lube and lined himself up. “Tell me if it hurts,” he said again before carefully pushing in. Peter gasped, overwhelmed by the thickness of Bucky’s dick, but when the man stopped, brows furrowed worriedly, the boy urged him to go on.

Since Bucky pushed in so slowly, Peter’s body had enough time to adjust. It took the man almost a minute to bury himself completely in the younger one’s tight ass, and even after he had bottomed out, he remained still for another minute before starting to move carefully. Peter had never felt more _stuffed_ in his life and he _loved_ it.

Therefore, he wrapped his legs around Bucky’s waist and started rocking his hips, meeting the man’s movements. Soon enough, Bucky found the right angle and managed to hit his prostate with almost every thrust, eliciting unbridled moans from the teen. “F-Fuck, yes, yes, please, yes, g-go faster.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Bucky groaned, leaning forward to move his head closer to Peter’s. The new angle let him push in even deeper, and for a second Peter thought he might be able to cum just from the man’s dick pounding into him.

“I-I don’t care, please g-go faster, James.”

Once more, Bucky groaned, digging his fingers into the skin of Peter’s hips, holding him in place. The boy didn’t care whether Bucky left bruises or not, but he cried out in pleasure when the older man sped up his movements.

“Ssssh, or the others will hear us” Bucky hissed, shutting him up with a sloppy kiss. Tears built in the corner of Peter’s eyes when he felt a particularly harsh thrust right against his prostate. “P-Please,” he choked, unable to respond to the kiss any longer. He couldn’t take it anymore, he needed to cum. “C-Can I please touch m-myself?”

Bucky looked at him in confusion, but then he smiled. “Let me take care of you, doll.” With that, he wrapped his fingers around Peter’s throbbing dick, using pre-cum and spit as lubricant. After only a few strokes, the boy knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back any longer, so he whined, holding onto Bucky’s neck for dear life. “P-Please, I…M-May I please c-cum?”

“You really don’t have to ask me for _permission_ ,” Bucky smirked, pumping Peter’s dick while still pounding into him mercilessly. “Let go, doll…Cum for me.”

It was enough to send Peter over the edge. With an almost apologetic look, Bucky’s hand closed over the boy’s lips when he opened his mouth, successfully muffling his scream when the teen came hard, shooting his load all over Bucky’s hand and his own stomach. His whole body was shaking as Bucky continued to pump him through his orgasm, not even flinching when Peter’s nails dug into his back.

As soon as Peter started to squirm, he let go off his dick. Trying to avoid the boy’s prostate, he thrusted into him four more times until he climaxed too, collapsing on the smaller one.

For a while, both men were just lying there, panting heavily. Eventually, Peter felt Bucky’s dick soften inside of him and the older one lifted his head, looking at him with the most adorable smile he had ever seen. “You were so great, Pete, so perfect…I hope I didn’t hurt you?”

“N-Not at all, but, uhm…James?”

“Yes, doll?”

“When will you be able to go again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it was boring and dragging (1.6k words of this is just smut 😅) but I wanted to get the smut done in one go so I can write some plot again in the next chapter ;)


	9. [09]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky has a heart-to-heart talk with Peter. Tony finds out about Peter coming to the compound.

_“When will you be able to go again?”_

Since Bucky assumed his refractory period would be about 20 to 30 minutes, they decided to cuddle and spoon in the meantime, Peter’s slender back pressed against the older man’s massive chest.

“Sorry if I’ve been a little rough,” Bucky said, gently stroking over the boy’s waist where his metal fingers had left a faint red mark. “I’m afraid I got lost in the moment.”

Peter giggled when Bucky leaned over and placed a tender kiss on it. “No worries. I’m used to it.”

Bucky frowned. “It doesn’t matter if you’re used to it. What matters is if you like it. I don’t have any problems being more careful.”

“It’s fine, really. I guess… I guess I do like it. Also, I do heal pretty fast, so it will be gone tomorrow at the latest.”

“Hmm. All right but promise me you will tell me if I’m too rough. I know you’re strong and all, but I am too… The last thing I want is to hurt you or make you uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable at all. But if you’re scared that you’re too rough… maybe I can get on top later and... " Realising what he was implying, Peter hastened to correct himself. "I-I mean, not _really,_ like, I mean, you would still... uhm, I mean that I got to set the pace... you know?” Although Peter barely had any experience with riding someone, he was somewhat eager to try it. Would Bucky be okay with letting him have the upper hand though?

“Gosh, you're so cute when you're nervous,” Bucky grinned and kissed his earlobe. "But sure, that can be arranged, doll." For a while they stayed silent, simply enjoying each other’s company, but then the older man spoke up again.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but… did you want me to be more dominant? It’s just…when you asked me for permission to cum, I realized that you had also asked me for _permission_ to touch yourself. At first, I thought you’d just been too shy to ask me to take care of you, but now I think I know better. If that’s what you’re into, then I have no problem doing that for you, as long as we lay down the rules beforehand.”

Peter blushed. “N-No, I- I mean, I am okay with you being a little rough but…I’m not that into the whole sub-dom thing, I guess. I’m just used to it, so I thought- I thought that’s kinda how it is. You know?”

“If you’re not into it, then why are you used to it?”

“Because my ex wanted it that way.”

Bucky sat up and looked down at Peter with concern. “Why didn't you tell him that you don't like it all that much?”

The boy shifted on the mattress and averted Bucky's gaze, feeling slightly uneasy. “Uhm…h-he kinda knew, I guess. He just never really cared that much about what I wanted.”

“ _What_?” Bucky sounded alarmed, making Peter regret being truthful. “He did it although he knew you weren’t comfortable with it? Please tell me this is not true.”

The boy tried to hold back his tears and stay calm, knowing it wouldn’t be believable at all if he took it back. Also, he didn’t want to lie to Bucky… “It’s fine, really. It’s how things were between us and sometimes I did kind of enjoy it. It always depends. Like… when you pinned me down or teased me about being kinky and getting punished during our make-out session in my apartment the other day, I was surprised to see how much it turned me on. It didn’t scare me or make me uncomfortable because I knew you…would stop if I asked you. I guess that’s the difference, maybe?”

Bucky turned Peter around and looked at him, his piercing blue eyes scanning him like an x-ray. “Wait, so this means…? Just to get this straight - the ex you told me about, who was quite a bit older than you, made you do things you didn’t want just because it got him off? Peter, that’s… that’s abuse, to say the least.”

The man looked at with so much apprehension that Peter failed at holding back his tears any longer. With a chocked sob, he shut his lids to escape Bucky’s accusing eyes. “S-Sorry.”

“Sorry? Oh my- You don’t need to be sorry, doll… You didn’t do anything wrong! It’s that fucking asshole who should be sorry for doing this to you… What’s his name?”

“Uhm, I-I won’t tell you. Please, can’t we just… n-not talk about him anymore? I just want to try and forget about it.”

Bucky sighed and carefully lied down behind Peter again, wrapping his arm around him protectively. “Okay, we won’t talk about it if you don’t want to. But… I am here for you, if you ever need to talk, all right?”

“A-All right. Thank you, James.” Bucky really was the sweetest guy on earth; it was sheer unbelievable that he could be turned into a ruthless killing machine by nothing more than a few stupid Russian words.

They fell silent once more; Peter continued to cry for a few more minutes during which Bucky hold him tight, kissing his neck, cheek, shoulder and fingertips every now and then. He felt so protected…it was everything Peter had always wanted. Inwardly, he cursed himself for being so weak and letting Tony treat him badly for so long when he could have been dating someone like Bucky… someone who wasn’t a cheater, sadistic narcissist or… _abuser_. Now that it was over between them, he was able to look at it more objectively than when he had been speaking with Steve about it over a year ago and although it hurt to think of Tony like that, Peter knew that it was the truth.

They were still lying there when a knock on the door startled them. Bucky shot up and eyed the door like it was a bomb. “Uhm, I’m k-kinda naked right now,” the man yelled, gesturing Peter to get dressed as quickly as possible. “Wh-Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Steve’s voice came from the corridor, “I’m just wondering if you want to help me prepare dinner.”

“Uhm… s-sure, just… uhm, gimme a second, okay?”

“All right. I’ll be waiting in the kitchen.”

Both Bucky and Peter sighed in relief when they could hear Steve walk away. “Why did you say you’re naked?” the boy snorted, trying to find his boxers in the sheets.

Bucky groaned. “I panicked, I didn’t want him to try and get in. The web still hasn’t dissolved.”

“Well, duh, it hasn’t been two hours yet. So, does this mean you wouldn’t have minded him catching us naked in your bed?”

“Of course I would have minded,” Bucky laughed and started to get dressed himself. “I mean, please don’t think I want to keep you a secret or whatever, but… at first, I didn’t know what this even was between us and then all the other shit happened and yeah… also, you didn’t want them to know either, so…”

Peter’s heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean with… ‘at first, you didn’t know what this even was between us’…does this mean you now know what it is?”

Bucky blushed and smiled sheepishly. “Well…I mean, I guess we both really like each other and after what we just did … Unless you want to be friends with benefits, I guess you could say that we’re… definitely dating? If that’s okay for you? I know our first date hasn’t happened that long ago, but we’ve known each other for over two years, and-“

“It’s more than okay,” Peter said, interrupting the man's ramble. He hardly dared to believe his luck. “I would love to uhm, _definitely date_ you.”

“Perfect.” Bucky smiled brightly, came forward and kissed him deeply, causing Peter’s dick to twitch again. He broke the kiss with a needy growl. “Why did you agree to make dinner with him? I thought we were gonna have a second round?”

“Because I didn’t want him to get suspicious or anything. I’ve kept on saying I would help him for days now, so… yeah. Sorry.”

Peter sighed and put on his shirt. “It’s all right, but… when will we be able to meet again? Can you go outside?”

“No, at least not without Sam and Steve.”

“For how long?”

“… I don’t know, to be honest. I guess- I guess until we know who was behind all this.”

 _Which could take forever_ , Peter thought desperately. “And… can we even speak on the phone or text without the others knowing? Since everything is going through FRIDAY right now?”

“Yeah, she won’t block it if it’s from you or anything. Also, I don’t think she ‘records’ messages, only conversations.”

“Messages are stored in databases though. You wouldn’t be able to see old messages otherwise.”

“Well, I think Tony is the only one having access to our phones and laptops and I doubt he’s sitting there listening to every recording or reading every text we have on our phones… hahaha.”

Peter didn’t laugh along. After all the fuss Tony had made about Bucky being dangerous, Peter wouldn’t put it behind him to check the man’s messages to keep a close eye on him. And he most certainly wouldn’t be happy about them dating _at all_ , so…it might be better to let sleeping dogs lie, right?

“Okay, how about this… do you know Snapchat?”

* * *

With delight, Tony had been reading all of Peter’s unsuccessful attempts to contact Barnes via text. He had also listened to FRIDAY’s recording of the phone call between Peter and Nat and Peter and Barnes, completely satisfied to hear how Bucky had ended whatever fucked up thing they had started. Since they’ve only met twice, Tony was convinced he had intervened before anything of importance had happened; after all, he knew how shy and insecure Peter was about sex and everything that came with it.

Therefore, Tony was deeply relaxed, not even bothering to check his phone once during the four-hour long meeting he and Pepper had with their wedding planner. And yet, when he saw FRIDAY’s alert about Peter leaving the apartment about three and a half hours ago, he still inquired about it, just to be on the safe side.

“FRI, send me the location of Peter’s phone.”

“It’s still logged in at home, boss.”

“Huh, why did you tell me he left his apartment, then?”

“The drone registered him leaving, sir. He got into an Uber a 3:50 pm.”

“An Uber? Do you know where he went?”

“Yes, boss. He entered the code to gain access to the compound at 5:03 pm.”

Tony almost had a heart attack. “He did WHAT? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“You never told me to inform you about every visitor, boss. Also, according to the database, Mr. Parker and all other Avengers must not be denied entrance under any circumstances.”

Tony groaned. “Yes, but… ugh, forget it.” No matter how good she was, FRIDAY was still an A.I., after all. She couldn’t _know_ that Tony would have wanted to be informed about Peter coming here immediately since he had never told her. She didn’t _understand_ his reasons for the orders he had given her. “Is he still here?”

“No. I registered him passing through the gates thirty-seven minutes ago.”

“Has he spoken to Barnes while he was here?”

“I can’t say, boss. I don’t have any recordings of Mr. Parker being inside the building.”

“What do you mean? Show me everything you have.”

Tony watches Peter pass various cameras on his way to the accommodations. Then, he rounded the corner to the backside of the building and aimed his wrist towards the camera before it went black.

Fuming, Tony dashed off, heading right for the elevator. He had just pressed the button for the Avenger common rooms when it hit him-

If he made a scene fuss now, Peter might find out that he had been watching over him. No, he needed to act as innocent as possible and find out what he had been doing without admitting that he even knew he had been here. He found the other Avengers gathered around the table, rounding off the dinner with a glass of wine. Barnes was there too, looking oddly calm and _happy_. It was quite a contrast to the last few days when he had seemed quite miserable…

“Hey guys.”

The Avengers greeted him with a smile and offered him a seat. “There’s still some Chili left if you want,” Rhodey said, but Tony only shook his head.

“Thanks, but I’ve already eaten,” he lied, taking a seat nevertheless. “Just thought I’d step by and ask how you are doing. Especially you, Barnes.” He lips curled into a fake sugar-sweet smile.

“Better, thanks.” Was he imagining it or was Barnes tone a little bitchy?

“Mhm. Good to hear.”

“Do you have any news?” Steve asked, sighing when Tony shook his head. “Not yet, unfortunately. FRIDAY hasn’t notified me of any threatening or weird messages. However, there was an unusual disturbance with one of the cameras on the backside of this building. From 5:09 pm to 7:09 pm, the screen was black.”

Tony almost jumped over the table when Barnes lowered his gaze, some muscles in his face twitching. “Everything okay, Barnes?” Tony asked with a dangerous growl, causing everyone else to look at the Winter Soldier too.

“Sure. Why? Do you think someone did it to get to me or to lure me out or whatever?”

Although that’s exactly what Tony was thinking, he had a feeling it would sound weird if he said it. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

Bucky looked both guilty and annoyed when he eventually glanced up again. “Guess it’s a coincidence then, because I’ve been in my room for the last four hours or so. Alone.”

His voice was challenging, stirring Tony’s anger. He was convinced that Peter had been here to see Barnes, probably climbing up the veneer to sneak into his room. It demanded everything from Tony to stay calm and not release the gauntlet from the nano-tech wrapped around his wrist to shoot a blast at Bucky’s stupid face. “I see. Good to know.”

The other Avengers sent him confused look, no doubt wondering why Tony sounded so hostile, but nobody said anything. After a few more minutes, they had finished their glasses and debated over playing Poker. Barnes, however, went back to his room, so Tony seized the opportunity to pull Rhodey aside, who was the only one he still trusted.

“Can I ask you something? I want it to stay between us, though.”

“Sure, no problem,” Rhodey said, looking concerned.

“Has Peter been here?”

“Peter? Not that I know of…why?”

Tony could see that Rhodey was telling the truth and decided to (partly) confide in him. “I know he was at the compound because FRIDAY is informing me about any visitors until we know who had it out for Barnes. She alerted me when he came over at about five pm. I didn’t think anything of it at first, but then she told me about the dysfunctional camera…”

“Do you think Peter had anything to do with it?”

“I don’t think, I _know_. She showed me the last seconds of the recording and I saw him shooting a web at the camera. Are you sure he hasn’t been up here?”

“Yeah, I am sure. I mean, at least he wasn’t in the common room because I’ve been here since about four, watching basketball with Sam. Why do you think he was here?”

“I think he wanted to see Barnes... It would make sense because there are no cameras in the bedrooms. Also, I don’t know what’s going on between them, but I think they might have… _gotten closer_ lately.”

“Gotten closer? What do you-“ It was hard to suppress a grin when Rhodey looked at him outraged. “Wait, do you think they- they are dating?”

“I have no idea, but we have both seen Peter flirting with Barnes on his birthday and the way Barnes attacked him… it seemed personal, kinda. I don’t know, but I am worried. Not about _them_ per se, that's their business, but about Barnes getting triggered again.”

“Well, I am worried about _them_ too. Peter is a baby, how can you-… ugh. Okay, let’s put that aside for now… Should we ask Bucky about it?”

“No. I don’t want him to think that I’m overexaggerating or acting like Peter’s dad or whatever. I’m just asking you to inform me if Peter comes over and I don’t know, maybe keep an eye on them if I’m busy.”

“Sure thing. Don’t worry, Tony, I won’t let Peter get hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you’ve been waiting for everyone to find out but what I have planned for this only works if they don’t know yet. Trust me, the truth will eventually come out, but I need to get a few more things done beforehand 😉 And please don’t be upset at Rhodey; he means well and doesn’t look through Tony’s bad intentions


	10. [10]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony isn't pleased when he finds out that Peter and Bucky are sexting.

The taxi Bucky had ordered was waiting for Peter outside the gates. The whole ride home, the boy couldn’t stop grinning or breaking into weird, silly giggles whenever he thought about Bucky. They had slept with each other, and not only had it been even better than Peter imagined, they were also officially dating now!

Well, not _officially_ official (after all, they haven’t told anyone about it yet), but knowing that Bucky felt the same way as Peter made him unbelievably happy. The only thing that bothered him was the conversation they had had about Tony… Peter regretted speaking about it for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it made him look weak and because it wasn’t completely fair towards Tony.

Yes, he really might have been a little … _abusive_ every now and then, but Peter also had so many great memories with him. Their relationship was flawed for sure, maybe even toxic, though not completely awful. Not to mention that Peter probably still loved him to a certain extent…

 _No. Over and out._ Tony was the past, whereas Bucky was the present and future (hopefully), which is why he needed to stop thinking about his ex and put it behind him. _Ultimately._ Having a new boyfriend (Peter couldn’t help but squeal happily, causing the taxi driver to shake his head in annoyance) gave him the opportunity to hit the reset button and start over. It was a big step for sure, but he was more than willing to take it.

Therefore, Peter immediately looked for his phone when he came back and logged into his abandoned Snapchat account. He had helped Bucky with the registration, but since the older man wasn’t that acquainted with Social Media apps, he wondered if-

Grinning, he saw he had a friend request from W1NT3RJ4M3S. After accepting it, he quickly sent a message short message. _“thanks for the money for the ride :)”_

It was kind of embarrassing, but Peter wouldn't have been able to pay the expensive yellow cap back home if Bucky hadn't helped him out, meaning Peter would have had to call Happy or Tony after all and explain why the fuck he was at the compound.

It took about an hour until Bucky texted him back. _“No problem, doll."_

_"how was dinner?"_

_"Good. Steve asked me if someone had been in my room ...”_

Although Peter felt a little worried, he couldn’t resist smiling at the nickname. _“oh shit, why??”_

_“Because Tony was here shortly after dinner and told us about one of the cameras not working. Steve then asked me if I was sure I had been alone because of me saying I was naked when he knocked.”_

_“omg...was this in front of the others? what did you say?!”_

_“No, we were alone. I told him I had been working out and was changing. I’m sure he believed me though, or so he says at least.”_

_“do you know if anyone knows about me being here?”_

_“I don’t think so. I mean, neither Tony nor any of the others even mentioned you.”_

Peter sighed in relief; he was convinced that Tony would have confronted them about it if he knew.

* * *

Because of FRIDAY’s daily report he received next morning, Tony found out that Peter had been using the Snapchat app for the first time since he’d started to keep track of him. He fumed when FRIDAY said that he’d been chatting with a user named W1nt3rj4m3s. _Winterjames_ … how cheesy.

“Show me their messages.”

“I can’t, boss. Those messages and ‘snaps’ are deleted from Snapchat’s servers as soon as they’re opened or expired.”

“Aren’t they cached anywhere?”

“No.”

This was _bad._ Tony asked FRIDAY to find out whether it was possible to load the messages in and read them offline, but although she said it might be possible to do that, it would require Tony to log into Peter’s account. “Mr. Parker might get notified about another advice logging into his account. Also, it’s very likely that Mr. Parker's phone gets logged out in the process, which might make him suspicious.”

Therefore, Tony didn’t know any other way apart from secretly installing a sort of Trojan on Peter’s phone he had developed himself. It was quite severe, basically recording everything displayed on the screen at any given time. However, Tony had long since stopped caring about invading Peter’s privacy. After all, it was the teen's own fault that Tony would now read and _see_ everything his baby boy did with his phone…If he had obeyed and kept away from Barnes, Tony wouldn’t be forced to do this.

At 11 pm, the man took a long bath and watched a recording of everything Peter had done on his phone since the morning. Although it wasn’t too exciting at first, Tony didn’t dare to jump forward and risk missing anything that might be of importance. The Snapchat messages exchanged between him and Barnes throughout the day were rather innocent, but then Peter wrote that he missed him, stirring Tony’s wrath.

 _B: “I miss you too, doll.”_ (Doll? Was that fucking piece of shit calling his baby boy nicknames already?)

Roughly twenty-four hours later, Tony was still down in the lab when he told FRIDAY to show him the recordings of the day. Peter had already texted Barnes in the morning, telling him about a dream he had had.

 _P: “we were on a skiing trip or whatever and you were as incapable with the skiing sticks as you were with your chopsticks :D”_ (When had Peter ever seen Barnes eating with chopsticks??)

 _B: “Did it lead to a steamy make-out session at least?”_ (What the fuck?)

_P: “idk I woke up when you bumped into me :(”_

_B: “Well, as soon as this is over, I’ll gladly take you on a skiing trip. Would you like that?”_

_P: “omg rly? hell yeah, I’ve always wanted to try skiing!! I hope we can prepone the make out session though ;)”_ (What. The. Fuck?!?!)

_B: “Anytime, doll!”_

Peter had then sent a quick message saying he had to leave for college. Tony had not yet managed to calm down completely when the recording showed Peter opening the app an hour ago at 10:26 pm. At first, the boy only told Barnes about his day, but then-

_P: “I am so tempted to take may’s car and drive over. I can’t take this, I NEED you.”_

_B: “… I don’t think this is a good idea, doll. Unless you want to tell everyone about us?”_

_P: “ik but… I’ve already… yknow and I’m still horny as fuck. I can’t stop thinking about you and… yknow… you owe me a second round ;)”_

Shell-shocked, Tony told FRIDAY to pause the recording, feeling as if his heart had just been ripped into a million pieces. This wasn’t real… it couldn’t be real. It was not possible. Peter surely hadn’t… he couldn’t… Before he knew it, Tony’s legs gave in and he found himself on the floor of his lab, tears of utter disappointment and fury blurring his vision. All his efforts had been pointless. Even though he had tried so fucking hard, Barnes had still found a way to defile his angel, _ruining_ the innocence Peter had managed to preserve despite losing his virginity to Tony almost two years ago.

This was not acceptable. Tony _loved_ Peter, whereas Barnes only wanted to use and destroy him. And he had succeeded. Now, there was nothing left to do than perform damage control and make sure it _never_ happened _ever_ again. Albeit killing Barnes would be the easiest way to deal with it, Tony knew he couldn’t do that. At least… not if there was any other way.

When he eventually felt strong enough, Tony asked FRIDAY to continue playing the recording, only to let his fist collide with the workbench a few seconds later.

_B: “… Wow, that’s… Stop saying these things or I’ll get too excited…”_

_P: “HOW excited? ;) I want details…”_

_B: “… I’m afraid I’m really bad at this, Pete.”_

_P: “me too but idgaf. I just want you to fuck me, James.”_

_B: “... Oh my god, you’re making me blush.”_

_P: “show me.”_

_B: “?”_

_P: “send me a selfie. that features your chest. pretty please :)"_

_B: “You sure?"  
_

_P: “YES, PLEASE!”_

Tony wanted to throw up when a few minutes later, Peter opened a ‘snap’ showing Barnes ugly scarred torso, an oddly shy grin plastered on his face. Acting shy didn't suit him _at all._ Even worse though was that Tony was now forced to watch his sweet angel taking about 30 shirtless pics of himself in front of the bathroom mirror; it took him almost ten minutes until he was eventually satisfied with the result and sent it to Barnes, adding the caption: _“told ya the bruises would be gone :(“_

 _Bruises???_ What fucking bruises?? The urge to go upstairs and kill Barnes got stronger by the second, and almost desperately Tony tried to persuade himself to calm down. He wasn’t a murderer…if ever, he should have killed Barnes three years ago in Siberia to get revenge for his poor mother. Not to mention his honor...

_B: “Fuck, doll, you are so beautiful. Wished I could kiss my way all over your neck, chest and stomach right now.”_

Tony was so disgusted that he had to stop the recording for good. He didn’t, he _couldn’t_ , see more of them sexting or Barnes wouldn’t survive the evening. He had no intention to sleep (not that he thought he could, even if he tried). He needed to come up with a solution and in his despair, he briefly thought about flying over to Peter and tell him everything, intending to give him one last chance to come around and get together again before… before _what?_

The biggest problem was that Peter didn’t seem ready to take Tony back because he was seeing Barnes through rose-colored glasses right now. Which was the crucial point. If triggering the Winter Soldier wasn’t enough to show him Barnes the man’s true colors and scare Peter off, then what else was could Tony do?

* * *

Peter was horribly tired the next day. He and Bucky had been sexting until way past midnight and even exchanged a few more suggestive photos. Not nudes, though; whereas Peter trusted Bucky, he didn’t feel ready to do it. He had never been too confident about his body and had always had to jump over his shadow whenever Tony wanted to photograph him completely naked.

Just like the last two days, Peter found it rather hard to concentrate during his lectures with his mind drifting off to Bucky every other second. After the last course had ended, he took the E train back to Queens and walked home. About a mile away from the train station, a loud BANG followed by a piercing scream coming from the alleyway to his left caused Peter to jump. Was that… a gunshot?

Without hesitation, the boy dashed into the narrow alley and skidded around the corner, stumbling across a hysterical woman kneeling on the dirty floor. “M-Miss, are you all right?” Peter quickly kneeled down as well, trying to see if she had any injuries.

Whining, the woman shook her head. “Th-They took T-Tiffany.”

“Tiffany?”

“M-My dog. She’s my ba-a-aby.”

At the same time, two men and another woman ran towards them, looking aghast. “We called the police, is anyone hurt?”

“A dog, you said?” One of the men asked and shoved Peter away, “I saw two men running out of here with a Chihuahua.”

The other men frowned. “Really? I didn’t see-”

“Oh my god he... he will kill her like he threatened he would! Oh my god!” The woman broke out into heartbreaking sobs, causing Peter to tear up as well. “What direction did they run off to?” he asked the first man. “Down Collins. The one wore a red jacket, the other a blue one.”

“Are you sure? I ain’t seen nobody,” the second guy insisted, making the woman cry even harder. “You’re blind, th-then. It was m-my ex, he always wears a r-red jacket.”

“All right, I’m… I’ll see if I can find them,” Peter mumbled and ran out of the alleyway, ignoring the snort and shocked ‘Are you mad, kid?’ coming from the second man and the female witness. Should he put on his suit? His spidey sense told him that something was fishy, so it might be better if-

Another BANG from about two junctions down made the decision for him. As fast as Peter could, he ran towards another alleyway he knew and, crouching behind a dustbin container just to be on the safe side, took his red and blue suit out of the backpack.

Two minutes later, he had swung to the junction, asking random passengers what happened or if they had seen two men with a small dog. Strangely enough, nobody seemed to have seen anything though. Just like Peter, they had only heard the gun-shot, forcing the boy to swing onto a higher building in order to scan the area with the help of KAREN and his spider drone. He felt pretty useless sitting around like that, but what else was he supposed to do?

After five minutes, he had to accept that it was hopeless, so he gave up and called the drone back. “Sorry, Peter,” KAREN said when the boy sighed in frustration. “Shit, I- I just wanted to help that lady, you know? The poor dog…I hope it won’t get-”

Peter forgot what he wanted to say when suddenly, his vision went pitch black, making it impossible to see anything anymore. “Uhm, KAREN?”

There was no reply, causing Peter to shiver unpleasantly. This had never happened before… _what the fuck was going on?_ Out of nowhere, Peter’s senses dialed up to eleven, and although it didn’t feel like someone - or something - was attacking him, he jumped backwards and twirled.

Quickly, he grabbed the hem of his mask and pulled it off, looking around in alarm. Nothing. Nobody. And yet, the bad feeling didn’t disappear; something was up and his senses screamed at him to get away from here as fast as he could. But how should he swing back if he wasn't able to see anything? Leaving the mask off was out of the question in case someone saw him, but... what other option did he have?

Just to make sure, Peter slipped the mask back on, sighing in relief when he saw that the vision seemed to work just fine again. “What just happened, KAREN?”

“What do you mean, Peter?”

“Did you… I don’t know, shut down or something? You weren’t responding anymore and everything was dark.”

“I am afraid I can’t follow, Peter.”

“Uhm… o-okay, never mind…I’ll just… swing back now.” Maybe he should get the suit checked over, but… since Tony and him weren’t really on speaking terms right now, it might be better to just take the black or the Iron Spider one in the near future.

Back home, Peter told his aunt about incident, but left out the part about his suit malfunctioning. He didn’t want her to worry unnecessarily. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for not finding the dog,” May said, running her fingers through Peter’s hair affectionately, proving once more that she knew him too well.

“I just- I could have reacted faster or…I don’t know, I feel like I wasted time by hesitating and changing into the suit and stuff. I mean, it’s not like it’s bulletproof.”

“You might have held back without the suit, though. I mean, if they attacked you or- Oh god, I'd rather not think about what can happen whenever you put that on. Anyways, you tried everything you could, sweetheart.”

Peter knew there was no point arguing about it, which is why he offered to help May with her cooking. He had just started to chop vegetables when the doorbell rang. “Are you expecting someone?”

May shook her head, so Peter dropped the knife and jogged to the door. It was Mrs. Jessman from the end of the hallway, holding out a blank envelope. “A man gave this to me, he said it was for you.”

“For me? Uhm, okay? Thank you.” Frowning, the boy closed the door and sliced the envelope open. Only to gasp in shock when his eyes fell on photos showing _himself_ on top of a building, wearing his Spider-Man suit, a bewildered look on his clearly visible, unmasked face.

Someone had seen him after he had taken off the mask; someone, who had not hesitated and seized the chance to take as many pictures as he could in the short timeframe during which Peter had been unmasked.

It was a nightmare. The last three pictures even showed Peter putting the mask back on and swinging from the building, leaving no doubt that he wasn’t just a pro at cosplay. _Holy fucking shit_. Even worse, though, was the very clear and unambiguous mesage someone had left him on the back side of the last picture.

_“24 hours. 10 million dollars in Bitcoin. Address: 1BvBMSEXksWetjGBn7A6m4Ajfx. We are watching you, Peter Parker.”_


	11. [11]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and May hope to find shelter at the compound.

The letters blurred in front of Peter’s eyes as panic engulfed him. His chest tightened, making it hard to breathe, and for a second the boy was afraid he would faint right then and there. Even after all the shit that had happened to him lately, this came as a shock. What the fuck was he supposed to do?

Over the course of the last four years, Peter had made far too many enemies all around New York. Enemies, who had never been caught or who had been release from jail already. Enemies, who would gladly take any chance at revenge they could get.

Revealing Spider-Mans’s identity would greatly endanger May and all of Peter’s friends. But how in the world should he procure ten _million_ dollars? There was no way he could… not without- _No._ It wasn’t an option. No way. He wouldn’t ask Tony. Never.

“Are you helping me now or what?” May called from the kitchen, bringing Peter back to earth. Whoever was behind the blackmailing, they knew his name and where he lived. Where _they_ lived. Horrified, Peter dashed into the kitchen and grabbed May’s wrist. “M-May, we- we have to go.”

“Go? Go where? Why, what’s going on?”

“I- I- I…” She deserved to know the truth, but Peter couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. He handed her the pictures, not even trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“Oh my god.” May looked at Peter, pupils widened in alarm. “Do you know who took these?”

“T-Turn it around.”

Peter watched as her lips silently formed the words ‘ten million dollars’ two times before she found her voice again. “ _Ten m-million dollars_?”

“W-We have to get out of here, they- they know where we live. They g-gave this to Mrs. Jessman. May, I- I’m so sorry.”

Although May was shell-shocked, she quickly pulled her crying nephew into a hug. “This is not your fault, Peter. Please, don’t- don’t be sorry. We will figure this out, okay?”

“We have to go,” Peter urged, freeing himself from May’s tight grip.

“Sweetie… I have to go to work, I can’t just… _leave._ Where would we even go to?”

Unfortunately, there was only one place Peter considered safe right now. “The compound.”

May gaped at him. “The _Avenger_ compound?”

“Please… Ton- I mean, _they_ will know what do. They can keep you – _us-_ safe.”

After quite a bit of persuasion, May eventually hurried into her room to pack some fresh clothes. Meanwhile, Peter had taken out his phone, intending to call Bucky, but somehow, he didn’t manage to establish a connection. The message he tried to send didn’t go through either, sending a shiver down Peter’s spine. _Something was wrong._

Had the blackmailer somehow hacked his phone too to prevent him from calling the police? Didn’t they know that calling the police was the last thing Peter wanted to do, considering they would find out about him being Spider-Man too, then? One more reason to get out of here as quickly as possible…

During the whole ride to the compound, Peter frantically turned his head into every direction, always on the lookout for any dubious looking car which might be following them. Fortunately, they arrived safely in Upstate New York ninety minutes later and after Peter had directed May where to she could park the car, they hurried into the accommodations building.

After Peter had entered the according code into the elevator, they went straight up into the common room. When the doors opened with a cheerful BING, Peter couldn’t help gasping in surprise. “T-Tony?”

His ex was standing right in front of the elevator as if he had been waiting for it himself, looking as astonished as Peter felt. “Peter? … _May?_ What are you doing here?”

So much for falling right into _Bucky’s_ arms. Tears prickled in the corners of Peter’s eyes, and when he didn’t react, May pulled him out of the elevator. “Someone is blackmailing Pete.”

“What?” Sounding alarmed, Tony stepped closer, placing his right hand on Peter’s shoulder vise-like. “Who is blackmailing you? And… with what?”

“Uhm-“ Peter broke off when he noticed Nat, Bruce, Rhodey, Steve and Bucky sitting at the dining table, staring at them in confusion. Seeing the affectionate and worried look on Bucky’s face was enough to make Peter wrench his shoulder from Tony’s tight grip. Sobbing, he headed straight towards the table. “S-Someone… someone saw me w-without my mask and- th-they took pictures, and-“

Another wave of tears came, shaking Peter’s body so much that he couldn’t speak any further. In an instant, Bucky leapt to his feet, but before he took one proper step towards the boy, Tony had jumped forward to stand between them like a shield, arms stretched out to both sides. “Wow, wow, wow, easy, Barnes. Where do you think you’re going?”

“I wasn’t going to hurt him,” Bucky hissed, blushing in visible shame and anger, “I just- I wanted to comfort him.“

“ _Comfort_ him? Sorry, but until we know whoever was out to get you, I won’t let you near-“

The words died in Tony’s throat when Peter quickly ducked under his outstretched arm and flung himself into Bucky’s arms, making his shirt wet as he pressed his tear-stained face into the crook of his neck.

Knowing how ominous it had to seem to the other Avengers, he quickly choked out “I- I don’t b-blame you for w-what happened last week”, acting as if they hadn’t spoken once since the incident. If he didn’t feel so horrible right now, he’d probably not give a shit about what anyone else thought, but he really didn’t want to have to deal with Tony getting suspicious too on top of everything. “I- I’m sorry they d-did this to you.”

Fortunately, Bucky seemed to catch on to it immediately. His strong arms wrapped around Peter’s small frame and just like that, the boy felt protected and calmer. “ _I_ should be sorry, Pete, not you. I am really sorry for what happened. I hope you can forgive me.”

They quickly broke the hug after that, giving Peter the opportunity to a peek at the other Avengers. Nat, Bruce and Steve each had a somewhat sorrowful smile on their face; Rhodey, however… was Peter imagining it or did he look at him quite askance?

Only then Peter dared to turn around again, and when his eyes fell on Tony, his hackles raised. Tony looked _murderous_. He needed to fix this, fast. “S-Sorry, Tony, I- I appreciate you trying to protect me, but I- I am not scared and- Bucky has to know that I don’t blame him for what happened.”

Peter swallowed thickly when May stepped forward with a furrowed brow, speaking for the first time since the elevator doors had opened. “Uhm, excuse me, sweetheart, but… blame him for _what?_ ”

* * *

“Barnes tried to kill Peter a week ago,” Tony growled, resisting the urge to grin when May gasped in shock. “What?”

“It wasn’t _that bad,"_ Peter snapped before Barnes had even opened his mouth, "and it also wasn't his fault, May. He got triggered into attacking me, I mean, _us,_ but he didn’t even _know_ what happened.”

“Wait, is this… the Winter Soldier thing?”

“Yes,” Barnes said. To Tony’s delight, he took a step back, bringing some distance between him and Peter. “I swear, I didn’t mean to hurt your nephew, Mrs. Parker.”

“And we are doing everything we can to prevent it from happening again,” Rogers added, much to Tony’s displeasure.

“ _But_ , since we don’t know who was behind it and why Bucky had only attacked _Peter_ out of all of us, I’d rather be on the safe side and not let them be too close,” Tony stated as fatherly as possible. “I am sure you are all with me about not taking any unnecessary risks.”

“I am,” Rhodey quickly said, causing Peter to let out a frustrated groan. “I told you, I am _not_ scared. I am an adult and being in the same room or hugging him _one fucking time_ won’t kill me. Now, c-can we please focus on- on what I should do about the… b-blackmailing?”

Fuck. Peter was right. He had to realize that Barnes couldn’t protect him like Tony could… that Barnes neither had the power, nor the money or knowledge to help him in a dire situation like this. That was the plan, after all.

“I’m sorry, Underoos,” Tony said, trying to look empathetic, “You are right. Barnes, I didn’t mean to make it sound like it’s your fault any of this happened but… I was worried that seeing him, let alone being close to him, will somehow trigger you again.”

Bucky sighed. “Yeah, I know. It’s fine. I am worried too, trust me, but right now, I am more worried about the pictures. How did this happen, Pete?”

Peter told them about trying to find the dog and about his suit malfunctioning. “Wait, you couldn’t hear or see anything anymore?” Tony tried to look baffled.

“No. And Karen didn’t respond either. Do you have any idea why that was?”

“To be honest, I don’t. Do you have the suit with you? I’d love to take a look at it.”

“Uhm…no, sorry.”

“It’s fine, there’s no real hurry about it. So, you took off your mask and someone photographed you?”

“Yes.” Peter took the photos out of the envelope and placed them on the table. “I didn’t see anyone though.”

“These are pretty high quality,” Nat remarked, whereas Bruce brought up a fact that Tony had wanted to point out himself. “Were there any higher buildings surrounding you?”

“Uhm… Not really. Mine was the tallest of the street, I think. Why?”

“Because it almost looks like someone set you up,” Tony said before Bruce could respond. “My suits don’t just _malfunction_ out of the blue. Also, it would be pretty convenient for them to have a camera ready the second you take off your mask.”

Peter gaped at him. “Wait, so you think that lady’s dog didn’t get kidnapped?”

“I have no idea, Peter. After all, I haven’t been there, but… Maybe they were already following you and were just waiting for a chance to catch you without your mask, or maybe they did see you landing on that roof and found a way to mess with the suit and take a picture, but… Shit, I can’t shake off the feeling there’s a criminal mastermind behind it.”

“N-Now that you guys mention it… my phone wasn’t able to establish a connection when I tried calling, uhm, Steve.”

Anger stirred inside of Tony when he heard Peter lying once more. He had tried to text and call _Barnes_ , not Rogers. Before his baby boy had started hanging out with that psycho, he had never lied. _It's all Bucky’s fault...he's affecting Peter negatively._ “In that case, you should give me your phone and let me see if I can find anything.”

“Uhm…” - Peter shifted from one foot to the other – “Y-Yeah, good idea, I’ll give it to you later.”

Just when Tony wanted to provoke him by asking why he couldn’t have it _now_ , Rhodey gasped loudly. “Holy shit, is this what they demand?” The man held up one of the pictures. “Ten million dollars?”

While the others drew a sharp breath, Peter started crying again. “Yes.”

“Let me see.” Tony hold out his hand, waiting for Rhodey to give him the picture. Acting like it was the first time he was seeing it, he frowned, turning it around a few times. “A BitCoin address… this is bad.”

“Can’t you find out who this belongs to?” Bucky wanted to know on Peter’s behalf.

“I can try, but it won’t be easy and might probably take me a lot longer than twenty-four hours. I would explain to you why that is, Barnes, but I doubt you know a lot about crypto-currencies and encryption. Whoever is behind all this seems to know what they’re doing.” Tony turned to look at Peter again. “I think it’s better if you paid them.”

“B-But… how? I- I don’t have so much money,” he stuttered, weeping bitterly.

“Don’t be silly,” Tony sighed affectionately. “I mean that _I_ will pay it, of course.”

“N-No, please, Tony, I- I can’t accept this, I-“

“Pete, I won’t just sit back and watch them leak the pictures. I would give them everything I have if it meant keeping you safe.”

Peter looked at Tony with tear-filled eyes, blatantly choked up, but before he could have stuttered out his thanks or thrown himself into Tony’s saving arms, Barnes butted in again. “Do you honestly think they won’t leak anything just because you paid them? Who says they won’t ask for more?”

_He couldn’t have said anything better._ If this wasn’t enough to convince Peter that Tony was much more capable of taking care of him than Barnes, he didn’t anymore. To Tony’s misfortune though, Barnes’ objection seemed to unsettle Peter rather than irritate him.

“I- I didn’t think of that. O-Or … what if you can’t find out who they are and don't get it back?” Peter looked at Tony desperately. “I- I don’t think I’ll ever earn enough money in my whole life to pay you back.”

“I’ll gladly take the risk, Underoos. You will never have to pay me back, I promise you that. And if they want more? Well, then we'll give them more. Trust me, one day, they’ll make a mistake and then I’ll bust their asses.”

“A-And if they still leak the pictures?”

“Then I will ensure your safety as well as May’s, MJ’s, Ned’s and whoever else you want. They can either live here at the compound until we found who did this or I’ll send them some of SHIELD’s best security men to protect them twenty-four-seven. Whatever you want. I promise that for as long as I live, I will do everything in my power to protect you and the people you care about, okay?”

Taking the initiative, Tony rushed forward to pull Peter into a tight hug. Although the boy tensed at first, he let it happen and eventually, wrapped his own arms around Tony too, sobbing into his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love it how you all immediately knew it was Tony 😂


	12. [12]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony tries to keep Peter close, but the boy has different plans.

Tony was barely able to resist flashing a smug smile in Barnes’ direction when he pressed Peter tightly against his body. Way too soon for his liking, the boy pulled away, and Tony almost whined at the loss of touch. “All right, uhm… How about you and May bring your stuff up into the penthouse?”

“The penthouse?” Nat asked. “We have plenty of room down here, why-“

“Because I think it’s safer if he stayed with me.”

The rug was pulled from under Tony’s feet when Peter shook his head. “Thanks, Tony, that’s very sweet, but… I have no problem staying down here. If this is about Bucky, I already told you, I’m not scared of him. Besides, the others can protect me too, I guess.”

Tony wanted to scream when Nat, Bruce, and (after some hesitation) Steve all nodded. Only Rhodey seemed slightly worried, albeit most likely for the reason Tony told him about.

“I promise I will stay away from Pete as much as possible,” Barnes said, lips curled into a barely noticeable grin.

“Fine,” Tony spat, turning around to glare at May. “If Peter gets beaten to a pulp, just remember I tried to prevent it.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Peter, I agree with Tony. I’d rather have you staying upstairs with me.”

Peter sighed deeply, glancing swiftly at Barnes before turning to his aunt. “All right. I’ll sleep in the penthouse, but… I can’t promise I’ll be up there all the time.”

“Why not?” Tony asked, sounding a tad more aggressive than he intended.

“Well… I’m sure you and your _expecting_ _fiancé_ need some alone time every now and then.”

Suddenly, Tony felt like he was floating. _Peter was jealous._ He couldn’t bear to see Tony being all lovey-dovey with Pepper. _They still had a chance._

“Don’t worry, Pete. Pepper’s on a business trip all week and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind even if she was here.” In fact, Tony had to persuade her to fly to China for a bunch of unimportant, minor meetings with the argument that it might be the last time she would be able to do something like this before maternity leave. He had figured it wouldn’t be a good idea if she was around while he tried to win Peter back…

Not daring to look Tony in the eye, Peter mumbled “I see”, followed by an awkward silence. Eventually, Tony cleared his throat and offered to take May’s bag. “Thank you, Tony, but it’s not that heavy. I didn’t take a lot with me because… I can’t take so many days off of work, so I-“

“You can’t go to work until we know who’s behind all this,” Peter said, following them to the elevator. “Please, May… They could leak the pictures any minute and if you’re at work when it happens, you won’t be safe.”

May sighed, looking at Tony for support. “As I said, I promise to do everything in my power to find those guys, all right? And if you really have to go to work, May, I will get some guys who’ll keep an eye on you. What about college, Pete?”

“I’ll just- I don’t know, I’ll try to ask my professors to send me some assignments or something. I mean, I’m not scared about myself, so… If I can borrow one of the cars, maybe, then I will still go to campus I guess.”

With a BING, the elevator arrived. Tony saw Peter flashing Bucky one last sad smile before the doors closed. “The Spyder is yours, Pete. It’ll always be yours.”

Whereas May sighed again at that, fresh tears sparkled in Peter’s eyes, muttering a barely audible “Thanks”.

Up in the penthouse, Tony lead the two Parkers to the guestrooms. Making sure May’s door is closed, the man walked back to Peter’s room, watching him unpack. “Feels weird having you back here and know you won’t be sleeping in the same bed as me.”

Peter closed his eyes as if he was in great pain. “Can you please not say things like that?”

“I’m sorry, I just… I really miss you.”

At first, the boy didn’t respond to it, but then he swallowed thickly. “Tony… you know I’m only here because- because of May, right? This is not… about you and me.”

“I know,” Tony lied. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be all… weird again. I promised to give you time, and I will do just that.” In reality, Tony wanted nothing more than to fall on his knees and beg for Peter’s forgiveness, but he knew the boy’s answer would not be positive. Not _yet._ Not after the slutty texts and photos he had exchanged with Barnes.

No, for now it was important to give him time, be nice to him and do everything Peter wanted, to show him that he loved him and that he was serious about this. Then, he would give the boy one last chance to come around and get back together. If the plan failed, however… well, Tony didn’t want to think about that just yet.

_He wouldn’t fail._

Peter still loved him. He knew he did.

* * *

It took all of Peter’s self-control not to blurt out that he didn’t need ‘more time’ and that he had only promised to think about it to make Tony leave him alone last week.

However, he knew it would be a shitty thing to say, especially because Tony was so unbelievably generous and kind about helping him. Still, he didn’t want to pretend and lie to the man just to get his help.

“Okay. Thanks, but… Tony, in case you’re only… doing this because you want to get back together, then… please don’t. I don’t want you to get your hopes up or anything…”

“It’s fine, ba- Peter. I don’t have any ulterior motives, promise. I will help and protect you, no matter what. But now, let’s focus on finding those guys. Can I have a look at your phone?”

 _Shit._ “Uhm, yeah, but… can I text MJ and Ned first? Just to make sure they’re safe and all? I’ll bring it to you when I’m done unpacking.”

Fortunately, Tony nodded understandingly. “Sure, I’ll wait for you in the living room.”

Sighing in relief, Peter cleared his call log and all messages he had ever sent to Bucky (which weren’t even that much). Just in case, he also deinstalled Snapchat, not wanting to risk Tony looking through it for some reason. He then told MJ and Ned what had happened and asked them to keep their eyes open.

At last second, he remembered the shirtless pics he took yesterday. He quickly deleted them as well and jogged into the living room to hand the phone over. Tony was sitting on the couch they had cuddled and fucked on so many times. Peter hated to admit it, but Tony was right. It _was_ weird being back here.

“Thanks,” the man said, smiling. “I’ll install one or two apps and run a few tests. Might take a few days.”

“A few _days_?” Pete raised his eyebrows.

“Well, not the actual tests, but I want FRIDAY to record everything that happens in case they try to hack it or something. You can use my old phone in the meantime.”

 _And call_ Bucky _with it? Yeah, sure._ “Uhm, it’s fine, thank you. As you know, I don’t really have any friends apart from Ned and MJ and they have May’s number.”

“Haven’t you made any friends in college yet?”

“Not really. There’s a few I talk to outside of lectures or who sometimes text me about assignments, but I’ve never really hung out with anyone.”

Tony then started asking question about his lectures and professors, making Peter wish he knew a way to tell him he wasn’t really in the mood to talk to him so much without sounding rude. After a few minutes, May joined them on the couch, giving profuse thanks to Tony for letting them stay.

“You’ve always been so kind to Peter,” she said, teary-eyed. “I will never know how to repay you for anything you’ve done for him and now, also for me.”

“May, please… Your nephew is an extraordinary kid and he means a _lot_ to me. I consider him family.”

Tony flashed Peter a smile so full of longing and regret that the boy almost got weak for a second. _Almost._ He knew he couldn’t even consider getting back with Tony, not only because of Bucky, but also because of-

“Thank you so much for saying that. That reminds me, I heard you and Pepper are having a baby?”

_Precisely. Thanks, May._

“Uhm…yeah,” Tony said, looking promptly uncomfortable. “But it will take a few more months.”

“Do you already know if it’s a girl or a boy?”

When Tony opened his mouth to respond, Peter knew he wouldn’t be able to bear hear him swarming about his future child. Moreover, he had desperately wanted to talk to Bucky ever since they got here, so he’d be going to do just that. “Hey, uhm, I just realized I wanted to ask Bruce about something I learned in my Physics course, so… I’ll let you to catch up and… go talk to him.”

Before Tony or May could protest, Peter had hurried to foyer and called the elevator. “Be careful about Mr. Barnes, will you,” May called after him, to which the boy responded with a rather annoyed “I said I’d talk to Mr. _Banner_.”

Naturally, Peter did _not_ intend to talk to Bruce at all. Instead, he headed straight for the corridor when he saw that Bucky wasn’t in the common room anymore, but unfortunately, he ran into Steve. “Where’re you going?”

“Uhm…I just wanted to talk to Bucky for a sec.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?”

“Yes. He won’t hurt me, I’m positive.” 

To Peter’s annoyance, Steve escorted him. “All right, but I’ll go with you, just in case.” Even though Peter knew he meant well, he wanted to scream. Why can’t they all just mind their own business and leave them alone? Irritated, he knocked at Bucky’s door. The man looked thoroughly surprised, albeit happy to see him. “Pete? And… Steve?”

“Peter said he wanted to talk to you and I thought I’d keep an eye on you two… you know, just to make sure nothing happens.”

Subtly, Peter rolled his eyes at Bucky, who barely managed to suppress a grin. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Steve. Nothing will happen, promise.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. We appreciate it, but we’re both adults and want to speak alone. Please, Steve. Nothing will happen.”

Sighing deeply, Steve seemed to ponder about it. Eventually, he nodded and stepped aside to let Peter through the door. “Just scream in case… you know. Take care.”

As soon as the door had closed, Peter jumped into Bucky’s arms, kissing him wildly. “I missed you so much,” he mumbled into Bucky’s mouth, who let out a quiet moan. “I missed you too, doll. Are you okay?”

“Can we…please make out first and talk later?”

Bucky didn’t have to be asked twice. In seconds, they were on the bed, with Peter lying on top of Bucky until the older man turned them both around. Peter’s legs wrapped around Bucky’s hips to hold him close, mewling when their clothed private parts rubbed against each other. Neither of them seemed to care about anyone walking in on them when they got out of their clothes, but when Bucky leaned down, about to kiss Peter’s dick, the boy snapped out of it. “C-Can you please lock the door?”

Grinning mischievously, Bucky fulfilled Peter’s request and returned with a bottle of lube. “Do you think you can keep quiet?”

Blushing, Peter nodded eagerly. “Y-Yeah, I can. _Please_ , James, fuck me, please.”

He almost started to cry when Bucky shook his head teasingly. “Not yet, doll. But I’ll make you feel good, promise.”

And _hell_ , did he make Peter feel good. He licked, sucked and teased Peter’s dick as if it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted, all the while fingerfucking him. If it wasn’t for the pillow Peter pressed his face into in an effort to muffle his moans and cries, the other Avengers would probably be banging on their door already. Although Peter warned him when he was close, Bucky didn’t stop, swallowing everything the boy gave him without hesitation.

Afterwards, he lay down next to Peter and pulled him into a tight embrace, showering him in kisses. It was so sweet and _hot_ and it made Peter feel so secure and _loved_ that he his dick got hard again after only a few minutes. Bucky didn’t want to wait any longer either, so he quickly fetched a condom and lined himself up. “Ready? Or do you want me to stretch you some more?”

“N-No, please, I’m ready, _so ready_ , please!”

Bucky was still careful when he pushed in, face scrunched up in pleasure. “Holy shit, you feel so good, Pete. So perfect.”

The praise caused Peter to leak a vast amount of pre-cum and he stretched out his hands to pull Bucky down for another kiss. After a while, the man asked if Peter wanted to change positions and ride him. As tempting as it sounded, Peter was so greatly overwhelmed with the feeling spreading through his whole body right now that he didn’t think he’d be capable of doing so. “N-Next time, please, James, go _faster._ ”

“You want me to _wreck_ you, my sweet boy?”

 _Oh. fuck._ “Y-Yes, yes, please.” The prospect of getting wrecked by Bucky wasn’t intimidated at all. Peter trusted him one-hundred percent, especially after the talk they had had last week. Bucky wouldn’t hurt him.

Therefore, it didn’t take Peter a lot of effort to let Bucky take control. He didn’t even flinch when the older man kept Peter from touching himself by pinning both of his wrists down on the mattress, shaking his head with a teasing grin. “You don’t want to cum too soon, do you?”

It was obvious that Bucky was carefully testing how far he could go, and although the boy wanted to cry and cum _so badly,_ he _loved_ it. Because Bucky knew how to be dominant without being intimidating. And because he would stop teasing Peter as soon as he whole-heartedly asked him to.

Once Bucky was close too, he loosened his grip and wrapped his human hand around the boy’s dick. Pete reminded himself that it wasn’t required of him to ask for permission, so he came just seconds after Bucky did, painting his stomach and chest with his creamy, white release.

Affectionately, Bucky wiped it off with a tissue before they cuddled once more, panting heavily.

“That was… amazing,” Peter sighed, purring when Bucky placed a soft kiss on his temple neck. “That’s because _you’re_ amazing, doll.”

“Not as much as you are.”

They both snorted with laughter when they realized how silly they sounded and fell silent. After a few more minutes, Peter sat up with a sigh, looking for his clothes. “We should probably get dressed in case Steve… you know.”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely.” After they had put their clothes back on, Bucky sighed as well. “You know…I’ve been thinking. Don’t you think it’s a little weird that- I mean, remember those odd attack when I was at your place?”

“Um, yeah, why?”

“I don’t know, but a few days after that someone triggered me into becoming the Winter Soldier and now someone is blackmailing you. Quite a bunch of weird incidences, right?”

“You think there might be a connection?”

“Maybe. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that HYDRA is behind the Winter Soldier thing, so I’ve been thinking… what if they have been following me for a while? What if they knew I was at your place and tried to lure me out, only to see you crawling out of your apartment in the Spider-Man suit?”

Peter’s eyes widened. That made way more sense that he’d like to admit. “Oh my god… you could be right! If they saw me, then- maybe they decided to keep a close eye on me and- tricked me into taking off the mask to get proof.”

“Yeah. And maybe they even told me to attack you specifically because they thought you were Spider-Man. Maybe that’s why I was so focused on you. Or maybe they knew we liked each other because they’ve already seen us at Dodo’s too, and knew it would hurt me if they made me attacked my new…boyfriend.”

“But why would they _blackmail_ me?”

“I’m not sure… but I think we should tell the others about it.”

Suddenly, Peter felt chilly. “You mean… about _us_ as well?”

“Yeah. I mean, it could be important and now that we’re official, I don’t want to hide it from them forever anyways.”

“I’d rather, um, not tell them.”

Bucky frowned, unable to hide his disappointment. “Why not? If we told them, they would understand why we want to see other and might even let you stay down here after all.”

“I just… want to wait a little longer.”

“How long?” Bucky asked, sounding a little angry.

Suddenly, Peter was reminded of himself; however, this time, he was the one wanting to hide the relationship, not his boyfriend. _Fuck._ “Until this is all over? Last week, you didn’t want Steve to know either.”

“Because you snuck into my room, Pete. But now that everyone knows you’re here... Sorry, but I’m starting to think you’re ashamed of me for some reason.”

Horrified, Peter shook his head. “N-No, absolutely not… Quite the opposite, I- I wished I could tell the whole world that we’re dating, but… I just can’t.”

“Sorry, but that’s bullshit. It’s really not my intention to put any sort of pressure on you, but if you can’t even give me a single reason why you ‘can’t’ tell them, then can’t shake the feeling that you’re not as sincere about this as you claim to be.”

Tears gathered in the corners of Peter’s eyes when Bucky turned away from him dismissively. He’s right and he deserved to know the truth, but… it wasn’t Peter’s right to out Tony...it wouldn’t be fair. “I am really sorry, James. I wished I could tell you, but… it’s complicated.”

“Oh yeah?” Swirling around, Bucky glared at him. “You know, I’m not stupid. This is about Tony, isn’t it?” Taken aback, Peter winced. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Looking horribly _hurt_ , Bucky snorted, shaking his head in disbelieve. “Maybe you should go and figure out what it is you actually want from this. From _me._ Because as I told you before, I’m too old to play games.”

“N-No, it’s not like that at all, I just-“

“I want you to go,” Bucky interrupted, voice shaking. “Please.”

Crying, Peter turned around and reached for the door knob. However, he couldn’t bring himself to turn it. “I-If I… tell you something and ask to keep it a secret… w-will you promise n-not to tell anyone?”

And just like that, Bucky’s voice sounds concerned again. “What? Sure, Pete, I won’t tell anyone…I promise you. Are you okay? What-”

“T-Tony is... h-he's m-my ex.”


	13. [13]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter tells Bucky about his past relationship. Tony gives Peter one last chance to come back to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're reading the Starker AU as well, I normally would have updated that one today, but I have no idea yet on how to write the last two chapters so I decided to update this sooner (and I had more motivation for this because you guys blew me away last chapter, thank you so much ❤)

For a few seconds, Bucky just stared at him, taken aback. “Your ex? As in _ex-boyfriend?_ ”

“Y-Yeah.”

“But he’s not- since when is Tony _gay_? And how- I mean, when- I thought you only had one-” Bucky stopped, apparently horrified. “ _No._ Tell me- tell me he’s not… the one you told me about.”

“U-Um…” Peter stuttered, taking a step back when Bucky clenched his fists, looking livid. “T-To be honest… y-yeah. He is. I- I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I just… couldn’t. Nobody knows.”

It was terrifying how much Bucky resembled the Winter Soldier when he said, “I’m going to kill him.”

“W-What?”

“I said I was going to kill that son of a bitch.” Bucky marched towards the door, but Peter quickly blocked his way. “N-No, please … he can’t know I t-told you.”

“What? Pete, it was bad enough when you told me you got abused by some random, disgusting asshole, but now that I know it was _Tony_ , a guy we all know and _trust_ , had done this to you… You can’t fucking expect me not to do anything about it.”

“You promised not to say anything.” Tears were streaming down Peter’s face when he looked at Bucky pleadingly. The man seemed to be fighting an inner battle. Then, he cursed and stepped back, kicking the bed frame. “ _Fuck_!”

“I’m sorry,” Peter repeated, sobbing quietly.

“Stop apologizing,” Bucky snapped, only to apologize himself when Peter winced. “Shit, I’m sorry. I just… _fuck._ You told me you were _sixteen_ when- he could go to jail for that alone. And if word comes out that he made you do things you weren’t comfortable with-”

“I don’t want him to go to jail. I just want to forget about him and move on. W-With _you_.”

“Why don’t you want him to know about us dating, then? You can tell me if you still have feelings for him, I won’t get mad.”

“It’s not like that… I mean, yeah, it's hard seeing him, which is why I’ve avoided coming here for so long… He’s on my mind a lot, but not because I miss him. Quite the opposite. It just feels so weird talking to him. But yeah… if Pepper weren’t in China... seeing them together would probably hurt a little.”

Bucky’s eyes widened. “Wait a second. Does Pepper know about it?”

“N-No, she doesn’t. I thought about telling her, but… it’s not really my business and I don’t want to make her upset and ruin their relationship.”

Bucky looked vastly disappointed. “Then why did you get into a relationship with Tony in the first place? I mean... you helped him cheat on her.”

“I didn’t know they were still together until my eighteenth birthday when they announced their engagement and the pregnancy.”

“You _didn’t know_ they were still together? They’ve been dating for _years_. She even moved in about a year ago.”

Shaking, Peter told Bucky how Tony had managed to make him believe he and Pepper had broken up in secret without anyone else knowing, and how Tony had always promised to come out and make their relationship official after Peter had turned 17, respectively 18. After he had finished, he couldn't help being deeply ashamed of himself. “I’m sorry. I know I was really stupid and naïve, and… I’d t-totally understand if you didn’t want to be together with someone like me, but-“

Sighing deeply, Bucky pulled Peter into a comforting embrace. “Don’t be silly, Pete. This doesn’t change anything about my feelings for you. You were a child when all of this started and it’s not like Tony was a stranger to you. You trusted him completely and he took advantage of that. He manipulated you, so please, don’t feel sorry for that. It’s not your fault. You… loved him, and love tends to let us see things through rose-colored glasses.”

Relieved, Peter pressed his head into Bucky’s shoulder. “Thank you… I just wished I hadn’t given him so many chances and… would have started dating you sooner. A-After I was legal, of course.”

Chuckling, Bucky pulled away, kissing Peter’s temple. “What matters is that we’re together now. Why don’t you want Tony to know about us, though? Don’t you think it would make everything easier?”

“No. He’s… always been rather jealous and… the night you attacked me, he told me he wanted to…get back together.”

“Are you serious?” Bucky asked, sounding alarmed. “He wants you _back_?”

“Yeah. He repeated it just earlier, actually.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him he shouldn’t get his hopes up and he swore he wanted to help me regardless of what my answer will be.”

“But you didn’t turn him down?”

Peter sighed, wishing Bucky would _understand._ Tough, if he was being honest, he didn’t even understand himself. “I know this sounds weird, but… I would feel shitty if I turned him down minutes after he’d been so sweet about helping me.”

Bucky frowned. “In fact, it sounds like you want him to believe there’s still hope just so he’ll pay. Sorry, but… that’s how I take it.”

“Not at all. As I said, I told him not to get his hopes up. When this is all over, I will tell him and everyone else about us, I promise. Right now, I want to focus on keeping May safe. Please keep this to yourself, James. I know he’s treated me wrong, but it’s not my right to out him and I don’t want to cause him any problems with Pepper. It’s not like everything about our relationship was bad.”

Peter waited with bated breath until Bucky eventually nodded reluctantly. “Okay. I won’t say anything. But please be honest… Are you afraid of him?”

“Um, n-no. I mean, yeah, I’m scared of what his reaction will be when I tell him, but I guess that’s natural? After all, you’re not exactly friends and as I said, he’s always been jealous.”

“You don’t think there’s any chance he already knows, do you?”

“No,” Peter said, wondering why Bucky looked so thoughtful and wary all of a sudden. “I think he might have been a little suspicious after you told him that I had called you, but I don’t think he still is. Not really. He wouldn’t act like he’s acting right now if he knew.”

“How would he act if he knew? Would he try to hurt either of us?”

Although Peter felt a shiver running down his spine at the thought, he vehemently shook his head. “No. He’d scream and freak out, I guess because he has anger issues, but he’s not a psychopath who’d think something like ‘if I can’t have you, nobody can’… if that’s what you mean.”

Bucky didn’t look completely convinced, but before Peter could inquire about it, someone knocked on the door. It’s Steve again, apparently relieved that nothing bad had happened. “Want to eat with us? May and Tony will be joining us as well.”

Peter could see that Bucky tensed. He quickly glanced at Peter before responding, sounding a little grim. “Sure. We’re coming.”

* * *

Tony was nervously glancing at his watch while he and May were waiting for the elevator. Peter had left 58 minutes ago and he didn’t even want to imagine what had happened if he had gone to see Barnes instead of Bruce. Much to the dismay of Tony, May hadn’t let him leave as well, saying that they needed to give Peter some space.

He let out a breath of relief when he spotted Peter in the living room with Nat and Bruce; Barnes was nowhere to be seen. Tony walked over to Rhodey, pulling him away from the others. To his greatest displeasure, Rhodey was unable to confirm whether Peter had gone to see Bucky. “Sorry, Tones. But I think it’s all good. Bucky doesn’t seem to be dangerous anymore and if they really are dating, we have to accept it anyway. Peter’s an adult, whether we like it or not. He won’t stay single forever, and if Bucky makes him happy… he’s a good guy and I’d rather see Peter date him than some asshole from college.”

Although Tony wanted to argue against it, he remembered that he’d acted almost chill about the possibility of them dating last time they had spoken, so he couldn’t.

During dinner, Tony kept his eyes fixed on Peter, but the boy didn’t glance at him even once. In fact, he barely looked at anyone and talked to his aunt instead, who seemed vastly overwhelmed with having dinner with the Avengers.

Aftewards, the others considered having a movie night. Tony, however, had different plans. “Pete, I was hoping you’d tell me some more details about the incident with the dog.”

“Um…” To Tony’s anger, Peter glanced at Bucky, who looked oddly _hostile_. “I, uhm, I guess we can.”

“Awesome.” Automatically, the man reached for Peter’s shoulder and wrapped his arm around him, leading him to the elevator. “Good night, friends. Thanks for dinner.”

Tony’s lips curled into a smug smile when he noticed that Barnes was still glaring at them, probably furious that he wouldn’t be able to sink his fangs into Peter today.

Up in the penthouse, they spent an hour going through every single detail about the dog incident Peter could remember. Only now, Peter mentioned the contradicting statements of the witnesses, which lead to Tony concluding that he had ‘probably’ been set up. “I’ll take you to SHIELD tomorrow. Maybe they can make composite sketches of that one guy and the dog lady.”

“Okay… thank you, Tony. I really appreciate it.” Peter was sitting so close to him Tony was able to count the faint freckles on his skin. It took all his self-restraint not to lean forward and kiss him.

The next day, Tony and Happy took Peter and May to the SHIELD base in Manhattan. It took hours until the quite realistic composite sketches were done. Tony wasn’t worried; the people he had hired had no idea who their client had been.

After a quick stop in Queens to get the suit, they drove back to the compound. Tony kept Peter busy by taking him down into the lab with him to inspect the suit. At 5 pm, Tony sighed, telling Peter that everything seemed to be in order. “I’ll run some more tests over the course of the next few days, of course, but… it will be too late, then. When did you get the letter?”

“Um… around 6:30 pm.”

“Hm. Guess that means I’ll have to pay.”

“You really don’t have to… as I said-“

“I _want_ to.” Tony then pulled the laptop closer and transferred the BitCoin he had already acquired yesterday to the address on the letter, which was, in fact, another BitCoin wallet he owned, but which could not be tracked back to him.

Peter’s eyes watered when he thanked Tony, accepting the man’s hug. Once more, the boy pulled away too soon, making Tony wish he could ask him _now._ But he couldn’t. There were still some more measures that had to be adopted in case Peter’s answer wouldn’t be positive. ”Can I go and… tell May?”

“Sure. I’ll stay here for a while and work on it some more.” In truth, he needed to get everything ready for tomorrow. At dinner time, Tony returned to the penthouse, surprised to find May sitting in the living room, alone. “Where’s Peter?”

“Downstairs. Thank you for paying, Tony. You’re too kind to us, I- I will never forget what you did for him. For _us_.”

“No problem,” Tony mumbled, about to freak out. Peter was downstairs again. _He couldn’t wait until tomorrow_. It needed to happen today. After making sure FRIDAY still had the recordings from Peter’s 17th birthday that Tony had been thinking of, he ordered pizza for him and May, acting as cheerful as possible. _Nobody could suspect anything._

At 8:05 pm, Peter came back, his hair looking oddly _ruffled._ “Where have you been so long?” Tony asked, trying to sound casual.

“Just talking to the others and playing some games.”

“Want some pizza?”

“No, thanks, I already ate. I think I’ll go and study a bit and… go to sleep, if that’s okay.”

“Sure,” Tony said, smiling brightly. “Good night”.

* * *

With a sheepish, yet bright smile Peter flung himself onto the mattress. He hadn’t thought it possible, but every time he had sex with Bucky, it was even better than the time before. At first, he had been afraid it would be awkward, now, that he had confessed about Tony, but it wasn’t.

Sure, Bucky had ranted a bit about not being able to bear seeing Tony acting all sweet around Peter despite mistreating him for so long, but Peter had managed to calm him down by saying that if he didn’t mind that much, Bucky shouldn’t either.

Preferably, he would have stayed even longer and actually watched a movie with him or something, but Steve had butted in again, asking what they were talking about for long. It was annoying, and despite his fear of how Tony would react, Peter had agreed to tell everyone the truth next week, no matter if they had caught the blackmailers by then or not.

If Tony really decided not to help him anymore just because of them dating, then so be it. Bucky had already promised to help him protect May and the man’s convinced that Steve and the others would be happy to help as well.

After paying May a short visit to say good night, Peter actually tried to study. At 11 pm, he gave up and went to bed, anxiously thinking about the blackmailers. Would they demand more money? Would they release the pictures regardless?

Not long after he had fallen asleep, he was awoken by FRIDAY’s voice, asking him to get up and join Tony in the lab. Groaning, Peter struggled to his feet. He glanced at his watch, frowning when he saw it was 2:39 am. What the fuck was Tony still doing in the lab? “Can’t you ask him what it’s about? I don’t have my phone-“

“He said it’s important.”

Sighing, Peter dressed, not wanting to confront Tony in his sleeping clothes. Five minutes later, he exited the elevator and stepped through the lab door, spotting the older man sitting at the workbench, flashing him a smile. “Close the door, please.”

Frowning, Peter complied before coming closer. “Why so secretive?”

Only now he noticed that Tony was looking at him rather oddly. His spidey-sense tingled. “Remember when we first kissed?”

… _What?_ Peter didn’t think he’d heard right. “Tony-”

“It happened right here, almost two years ago.”

“It didn’t,” Peter groaned, rubbing his tired eyes. “It was in the bathroom upstairs.”

“Oh… yeah, I meant the, um, first time neither of us were drunk.”

“What have you brought me down here for?” Peter asked more aggressively than he intended. “I’m tired.”

Tony’s face darkened significantly. “I wanted to talk about us.”

 _Oh god._ “In the middle of the night? You can’t be serious.” When Tony nodded, Peter exasperatedly shook his head and turned around, walking back to the lab door. He pressed the handle, but the door didn’t budge. A bad sense of foreboding crept up on him. “W-Why is this locked?”

“Because I want an answer from you. I think I’ve given you enough time.”

“About what? There is no ‘us’, Tony, I already told you that two weeks ago. Can you please not-“

“You promised you would think about it.”

“What is there to think about? You’ll never change, and…” _Fuck it._ “If you really want to know, I-“

“I can change. I already have. I’m willing to come out and break up with Pepper, just like I told you.”

“Oh, come on, Tony. You can’t tell me you believe that yourself.”

“I do. When Pepper is back, I will tell her everything.”

Peter couldn’t help it; he laughed. It was too ridiculous. “ _Everything?_ Really?

“Well, some small changes are necessary, of course. You were too young when it started and if we told her about the cheating, she’d get angry at us and make sure that-”

“She’d get angry at _us?_ ” Peter didn’t think he’d ever been more disgusted in his life. “You can’t be fucking serious! I didn’t even know you guys were still together since you’ve lied to me for _ages_!”

“Come on, Pete,” Tony chuckled, his dark eyes shining. “She would never believe that. She even kissed me at the Christmas Gala in front of you, remember? She does care about you a lot and I doubt you want to hurt her any more than I do.”

A burning rage flared up inside Peter, filling his entire body. “Now I’m curious. What would you want to tell her, then?”

“Well, I’ve thought this through,” Tony said, apparently oblivious to Peter’s fury. “We would tell her that you’ve had a crush on me for two years, which, by the way, I have already told her last year, and that you hit on me on your eighteenth birthday because I had told you about kissing a guy during my teenage years once. We had a fight after I had rejected your advances because of Pepper and the baby, but as time went on, I accepted that I liked you too.”

For a while, Peter was completely lost for words. “Wow, this is… you are despicable.”

“Excuse me?” the man hissed, going red in the face, obviously taken off-guard by Peter’s rejection.

“You heard me. _D-e-s-p-i-c-a-b-l-e._ ”

“Oh yeah? Do you have a better idea?”

“I have. Tell Pepper that you cheated on her with some random guy and get professional help. Now let. me. out or I’ll tell everyone the truth about us, the _whole_ truth, and I doubt you want to end up in jail.”

He knew he’d gone too far when Tony snorted like an irritated bull and closed the distance between them. “Are you _threatening_ me? After everything I’ve done for you?”

“Yes, Tony, I am. Because I’m sick and tired of your fucking lies and manipulations. I’m grateful that you helped me, I really am, but I told you not to get your hopes up. If you insist, I’ll try to pay you back for as long as I live, but we will never be a thing ever again, not even if you told the whole fucking world about your sexuality and our past relationship. You’ll have to find yourself another plaything you can _mistreat_. Goodbye.”

Peter turned around, about to break the door open, when Tony said something that made his blood run cold. “I gotta say, ever since you’ve let Barnes defile you, you’ve been a disrespectful little brat.”

“W-What?” Peter swirled around, gaping at Tony horrified. “W-What are you t-talking about?“

Tony’s eyes sparkled with anger. “It’s hard to accept that he succeeded in destroying your purity and make you less lovable than before, but I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s what I’ve been afraid of all this time.”

 _How the fuck did he know about Bucky?_ “Tony, please, I don’t know what-“

“I tried to protect you, Peter, I really did. And I gave you so many chances to come around on your own… I never wanted anything bad for you, but now I don’t see any other way. I won’t let him stand between us any longer and watch as he’s pulling you down with him.”

Before Peter could even begin to process anything he’d just learned, an extremely high, barely audible _beep_ sounded through the room, causing his muscles to contract. In an instant, his legs had turned to jelly and with a dull thud, Peter collapsed to the ground where he lay motionless, incapable of moving another inch. Images of the same thing happening to Bucky right before he had attacked Peter were running through his mind and his pupils dilated when he realized-

 _Tony had done that._ He paralyzed Bucky, which meant… he had triggered him as well. But why… _oh god._ In horror, Peter watched Tony taking something out of a drawer before creeping towards him, holding-

_A syringe._

There was nothing he could do when Tony moved the needle closer to his neck, looking at him with deep regret. “I’m truly sorry it had to come to that.”

Peter tried to scream, but no sound came out of his throat. He felt a stinging pain as the needle pierced his skin. Almost immediately, his vision started to blur, and mere seconds later, he was engulfed by darkness.


	14. [14]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter discovers the shocking truth about his ex-boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: **(SPOILER)**  
>  This chapter is the darkest so far and the reason why this has an archive warning. It won’t be extremely explicit, but please take care!

After Tony had securely locked Peter into the bunker, he went into the boy’s room upstairs. With a sigh, he buried his nose Peter’s sleeping shirt, breathing in his scent. It took him a few seconds to realize he was crying.

It hurt to do this to Peter, it really did. But there was no other way… After Peter had ultimately refused to get back together and threatened to tell everyone, locking him up was inevitable. Now, Tony had to focus on carrying out the last stages of the plan he had come up with when Barnes had started digging his claws into his precious baby boy.

He packed almost all of Peter’s clothes, his laptop and his wallet into the teen’s backpack. Taking the college books wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Then, he brought the suitcase down into the lab, started up his own laptop and told FRIDAY to hack into Peter’s mail account. Over the course of the next five minutes, he sent four messages back and forth. Then, he opened Peter’s standard messaging app and prepared texts for May, MJ, Ned, and – after some hesitation – for Barnes as well.

“FRIDAY, deliver these texts between 11:06 and 11:11 am. If anyone asks you where these were sent from, show them a location on Highway 81 around Winchester. If you get asked to locate Peter's phone, tell them he’s shut it off and taken out the battery.”

“It’s not possible to take out the battery of Mr. Parker’s phone, sir.”

“This is exactly what I’ll tell you, but then you’ll say that it seems he’s using a new phone without internet capability where the battery might be exchangeable. Say you’re unable to locate it unless he turns it on. I’ll create a list of GPS location for future use, but for now, say you can’t locate it.”

“Roger, boss.”

Tony then went down into the garage and drove the SPYDER out of the compound. It took him ten minutes to circle back around and drive into the tunnel leading to the bunker. Making sure to close the massive concrete doors behind him, he drove as far as he could before walking the rest of the way. He went to check on Peter, but the boy was still unconscious. The serum Tony had used on him was the same one they had used on Bucky, albeit less strongly dosed so he wouldn’t be out for too long.

To pass the time until he woke up, Tony went back to the lab once more, giving FRIDAY further instructions. “If I ask you to show us video surveillance of the garage, display a video of Peter walking towards the SPYDER on the evening of his seventeenth birthday party, August 10th last year. Change the time stamp to today, 3:19 am.”

He then told FRIDAY to modify and adjust the timestamps of two more videos. It was a good thing Peter’s wardrobe had barely changed during the last year, because he had actually brought the grey “Telekinesis” shirt from the videos to the compound with him. Only by looking really closely it was noticeable that the sneakers and the backpack were different, but Tony told FRIDAY to decrease the quality, adjust contrast and lighting, and crop it a bit. In the end, it was barely recognizable anymore.

To make sure he hadn’t overseen anything, Tony went through everything once more, giving FRIDAY a few more orders. Making a mistake would be fatal. 

* * *

Peter felt terribly dizzy and nauseated when he came to. It took him a while to realize he was sitting on the floor of a dimly lit and rather cold room. His back was propped against the concrete wall, his wrists each cuffed to massive iron rings.

His chest was hitching with trembling breaths as panic overcame him. He tried to break the cuffs with all his might, but he couldn’t, meaning he was either weak from the drug or… the cuffs weren’t normal handcuffs. Letting out a choked sob, he accepted what was obvious.

_These were Tony’s Vibranium handcuffs._

Tony had paralyzed and drugged him, just like he had possibly paralyzed Bucky before ordering him to attack Peter.

Terrified, the boy opened his dry mouth to scream for help. His voice was raspy, and when he screamed louder, it cracked. “H-Hello? I- Is anybody here? He-Help, _please_ , help!”

Although his head ached painfully, Peter continued calling for help for as long as he could. After a few minutes, he eventually gave up, feeling terribly weak and tired. He rested his head against the wall and tried to find a reason why Tony was doing this to him. He was obviously jealous of Bucky, but… how did he even find out about them dating?

He hadn’t made a lot of process yet when a door at the other side of the room opened, revealing a small room with an elevator cabin and-

“T-Tony,” Peter sobbed, leaning forward as much as the cuffs allowed him. “P-Please, w-what- what’s going on? Please let me go, I won’t tell anyone, I swear! P-Please le-lemme go, plea-“

“Sssh, it’s all right,” Tony soothed, ignoring Peter’s mantra-like pleading, “I know you’re scared, but I won’t hurt you, I promise.“

“Y-You won’t _hurt_ me? You drugged and chained me to a f-fucking wall!”

“Yes, and although I’m truly sorry, I’m sure you understand why that was necessary.”

“ _N-Necessary?_ ” After stting down next to him, Tony reached out, touching Peter’s face with his fingers. The boy flinched, but there was nowhere to go when Tony gently stroke his cheek. “S-Stop that!”

To his greatest relief, Tony withdrew his hand. “I said I wouldn’t hurt you… _doll._ ” Peter froze, his eyes widening in shock. “What’s wrong?” Tony sneered, “I thought you liked it when Barnes called you that.”

“H-How… How do you-”

Sighing dramatically, Tony shook his head. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out you’re dating him behind my back?”

“B-Behind your back? We _broke up_ , Tony. It’s n-not your business who I go out with or-“

“-Who you fuck? Tell me, how many times have you spread his legs for him? I know of three incidents at least, but considering you’ve recently started acting like a whore, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened more often.”

Peter couldn’t help it; he started sobbing uncontrollably as fear spread through his veins, causing his whole body to shake. “You…You’ve been… w-watching us?”

“Having sex? Are you out of your mind? Of course not, but I’m not an idiot. I know you were in his room and I saw the slutty pictures you sent him.”

Okay, hearing from Steve or someone else that Peter had been in the room was somewhat comprehensible, but how the fuck did he know about the pictures? Tony must have found a way to restore them… “You had no r-right going through my phone.”

“Everything is allowed in love and war.”

“F-Fuck you,” Peter hissed, a burning rage flaring up inside him. “You’re fucking insa-“

He groaned when Tony grabbed his chin, squeezing painfully. “Careful who you’re calling insane here. You saw how Barnes can be, and yet, you still had nothing better to do than sneak into his room despite all my efforts of keeping you safe. He’s a ticking time bomb, Peter. If I had told him to kill you, or Steve, or anyone else, he would have done it without batting an eye. You should be thankful I saved you, but instead, you turned me down and crawled right into his fucking bed.”

“S-So…it really w-was you?” Suddenly, Peter’s stomach turned when he remembered the connection Bucky had talked about. “Oh my god, y-you also chased me all around Queens when- w-when Bucky was over, didn’t you?”

“Yes. And when I heard you were planning another date for the weekend, I knew I had to act and show you how dangerous he is.”

“H-How did you even hear that?”

“Through KAREN. I can access her via FRIDAY. Same goes for your phone, by the way.”

That was even worse than Peter had imagined. “Oh god... W-Why can’t you j-just let me b-be?”

“Because I love you. Always have, always will.” Peter felt sick when Tony leaned forward, closing the distance between their mouths. Horrified, the boy tried to pull away, but found himself trapped between the wall and Tony’s head.

“G-offme!“ When Tony licked into his mouth, Peter bit down hard, tasting blood. Tony screamed, but Peter didn’t let go until the man’s hand grabbed his throat and started to squeeze. Instinctively, Peter let go of Tony’s tongue, wheezing as he got choked.

After a bit of a struggle, the boy managed to bend his leg and move it between their bodies. The position he was in didn’t allow him to kick Tony, but he still managed to knee him right into his chest. Growling in pain, the man let go and skidded out of reach.

“Big mistake,” Tony hissed furiously and rubbed his chest, eyes watering in pain, “You don’t want me to kill Barnes, do you?”

“O-Oh god, no, please, d-don’t hurt him, T-Tony, please.” Peter started to weep bitterly. At this point, he wouldn’t put anything past Tony anymore. Maybe he should try a different approach… it was obvious that Tony was sick, that he needed _help_ … If he truly thought he loved him, Peter might have a chance. “I- I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to hurt you, but… I p-panicked. I’m sorry, I’m s-so sorry.”

Tony sighed. “All right. Just… never do that again or Barnes will pay the price for it.”

“I won’t, I swear.” Although Peter knew it was risky, he had to try. “But… can you please t-take the cuffs off? I promise I won’t d-do anything, but it _hurts_. And… you said you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I’m sorry, baby boy, but I can’t.”

He felt a rush of anger at the nickname. “Can you please s-stop calling me that?”

“Do you want me to call you doll?”

“No, I don’t want you to call me any nicknames.“

“Why not? You’ve always loved it, and you let Barnes call you sweet names as well, so why can’t I?”

The whole situation was so exhausting and frightening that Peter couldn’t keep himself together anymore. “Because Bucky is my _boyfriend_ and not some p-psycho holding me captive. You lost the right to call me nicknames the day you hit me.”

Tony’s eyes sparkled with anger. “You’re calling _me_ a psycho although Barnes is the one who killed my parents and tried to kill his friends numerous times as well? Yes, I hit you, and I’m really sorry that I did, but he hit you too.”

“Only because you made him do it,” Peter cried, “You know as well as me that he can’t help it. He- He got kidnapped and t-tortured, Tony. There’s nothing he could have done to-“

“He could have if he’d tried hard enough. I was kidnapped too, but did I give up and let them turn me into a monster? No. I used my brain and managed to escape from that fucking terrorist cave, whereas Barnes was _weak._ No person in their right mind would rather date him than me. Just think about it… he could not have paid all that money to save you and May. And neither could he have done anything to find the people behind it.”

And suddenly, Peter had a blinding realization. He couldn’t believe how fucking stupid he had been. “W-Wait... you also s-staged the dog kidnapping and- and b-blackmailed me to- w-why?”

Tony sighed. “I just told you ‘why’. I wanted to show you that Barnes is _nothing_ compared to me. I mean… I don’t get it, baby. Yes, I know I made a lot of mistakes… I shouldn’t have cheated on you and I should have been more considerate, but… what does Barnes have that I haven’t?”

“He’s twice the man you’ll ever be,” Peter hissed, glaring daggers at Tony. “He’s honest. He’s sweet and kind. He would never hurt me on purpose. He always makes sure that I’m feeling safe and secure, and- and good _._ ”

When Tony smiled, it almost looked affectionate. “But I am all these things too, baby boy. Apart from the honest part, I admit, but going onward, I will never lie to you again, I swear. And we both know that nobody can make you feel as good as me…”

When Tony skidded closer, Peter’s overwhelmed spidey-sense tingled a lot worse than before, but only when the man straddled his legs and reached for the belt of Peter’s jeans, he realized what he intended to do. _This couldn’t be happening._

“O-Oh no, T-Tony, p-please, d-don’t do this,” he pleaded, on the verge of panicking. At the time he found the courage to try and throw the man off, Tony had already opened the belt, button, and zipper. “G-Get your fucking hand’s off me, I don’t want this, s-stop it!” The boy struggled harder, but not even his enhanced strength was able to help him since the position he was in barely allowed any movement.

“Stop struggling or I’m going to have to cuff your legs too. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Feeling completely helpless, Peter watched Tony opening the buttons of his boxers. As soon as the man slipped his hand in and closed around his soft cock, the teen broke into hysterical sobs. “No no no, T-Tony, p-pl-please stop, oh god, p-please, _please!_ ”

For a second, Tony actually hesitated. “You used to like it when I touched you.”

“N-Not like this, please, Tony, I don’t- I don’t want this, this is- this is r-rape, please, s-stop it!”

“Have you lost it? I would never _rape_ you, Peter… You’ll like it, I promise. Just relax and let me take care of you.”

As Tony continued his groping, Peter’s crying became a desperate keening. Oblivious to the continuous chants of ‘stop’, ‘please’ and ‘no’, the man palmed Peter’s dick to full hardness, grinning smugly when a few drops of pre-cum leaked out of the boy’s tip. “Oh, my sweet angel, I’m going to make you feel so _good_.”

With that, Tony tilted his head and leaned forward, successfully shutting Peter up with a sloppy, disgusting kiss. Peter didn’t dare to bite him again; in fact, he barely had enough strength left to do _anything_. When Tony finally ended the kiss to catch his breath, Peter felt completely mentally and emotionally drained.

Physically unable to stop his ex-boyfriend’s assault on him, he let it happen, whimpering faintly. He closed his eyes so that he wouldn’t have to look at Tony, and when he realized he couldn’t fight the pleasure slowly building up inside of him, he just tried to imagine it was Bucky touching him.

It still took ages, it seemed, until his body succumbed to the constant stimulation. For a few blissful seconds, Peter was able to escape reality when he climaxed, his body trembling and jerking as Tony milked it out of him. However, as soon as his cock had finished squirting out cum, Peter started sobbing once more, feeling beyond embarrassed and ashamed.

“See? Told you you’ll like it.” Smiling, Tony leaned in for another kiss, but because the boy flinched and quickly turned his head, the kiss landed on Peter’s cheek instead. Tony frowned, but then he got up and went through a door on the left, causing Peter to sigh in relief. _Please let it be over._

His small spark of hope faded quickly when Tony came back, immediately starting to unbuckle his belt. “W-What are you d-doing?”

“I thought you might want to return the favor and make me feel good too?”

 _Oh. god._ Not knowing what else to do, Peter desperately tried to come up with anything he could say that would make Tony stop abusing him any further. “B-But you said y-you wouldn’t r-rape me, and f-forcing me to- to p-pleasure you, _is_ rape!” Technically, what had just happened was rape – or rather, sexual abuse - as well, but since Tony had obviously lost his mind, Peter had to try and reason with him _somehow._

“Who says I’m forcing you? I didn’t force you to get hard and orgasm, did I?” _Yes, you did._ “You obviously wanted and enjoyed it, so I’m sure you’ll like this as well.”

Knowing he had nothing to lose, Peter started to ramble, shaking when Tony put out his cock and came closer. “O-Okay, you’re right, I- I did want and e-enjoy it, but- T-This is different, I _don’t_ want it and… T-This is not a roleplay, I- … _L-Lightsaber!_ ”

And just like that, Tony froze. “What?”

“Lightsaber. M-My safe word, remember? Y-You promised y-you’d stop whenever I used it and you- you always have.” It was true; Tony might have gotten irritated about it sometimes, but he had always stopped.

The boy waited with bated breath, watching Tony fight his inward battle. Eventually, the man nodded, causing Peter to burst into tears of relief. “All right. I’ll just… jerk myself off, but you better come around fast because I won’t wait forever.”

Crouching down in front of him again, Tony put his own hand on his dick and started pumping. Peter didn’t dare to close his eyes, so he stared blankly ahead, hoping it would be over soon. All of this. How late was it? Had May and Bucky already started looking for him?

After Tony had finished with a groan, he stood up and sighed. “I’m afraid I’ll have to go back upstairs now and ... take care of some things.” _Upstairs? Were they at the compound, still?_ “I’ll try to be back in a few hours and bring you some food.”

He had taken a few steps towards the elevator door when Peter snapped out of it. The prospect of having to sit here for a few more hours was terribly frightening. “Tony, please, you c-can’t just l-leave me like this! P-Please… l-let me go. It’s not too late, I won’t say anything, I promise.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Then… c-can you uncuff me, at least? I n-need to lie down and- I, um, really have to use the toilet, please!”

“How stupid to you think I am?” Tony snarled. “If you really need to piss, feel free to do so. If not, then I’m sure you can hold it in until I’m back and be able to assist you.”

It was too much; before Peter could hold himself back, he snapped, pulling at his restraints furiously. “Go to _fucking hell_ , Tony! The others will find me and then they’ll k-kick your fucking ass and-“

“They won’t. Nobody knows this bunker exists and I’m the only one who has access to it. Also, they won’t even start looking for you… Trust me, I’ve figured it all out.”

Peter’s stomach dropped. “W-What are you talking about?”

“They’ll think you faked the blackmailing to run off with your secret boyfriend. Right now, you and your ‘new phone’ are heading to a quiet place somewhere in Montana. I’ll text May every now and then until I’ve come up with a serum that will make you forget everything that happened in the last couple of months. You see... I want you to think we’re still together, und because I’ll have broken up with Pepper in the meantime, we will finally be able to live happily ever after.”

Although Peter didn’t want to hear it, he needed to know. “W-What if you can’t find a serum?”

“Then _I_ will have to come up with a solution on how to make it look like you died, and _you_ will have to stay down here forever. So, you better wish me luck I'll be successful. ”

Shuttering, Peter watched Tony step into the elevator. Just before the doors closed, Tony flashed him a creepy, unhinged smile. “I love you, baby boy.”

The second Tony was out of view, Peter burst into tears again, crying harder than ever before. He was so unbelievably scared, not just for himself, but for May and Bucky as well. He knew he had to get out of here, so he struggled once more, pulling at the cuffs with every ounce of strength he had, hoping to break them, but being unable to.

Blood was dripping from his wrists by the time he gave up. Unless Tony came to his senses, he would never get out of here. Unless…

For the first time since he’d woken up in this _dungeon_ , Peter realized how fortunate it was that he had told Bucky the truth after all. He would not believe Tony’s lies… he would know that he was behind Peter’s disappearance... or would he?

_Oh god._

First of all, Peter had told Bucky not to worry about Tony, and had even stated that he wasn’t a _psychopath._ Secondly, Bucky thought that HYDRA was behind everything that had happened recently. And thirdly… even if Bucky confronted Tony, it could greatly endanger him.

All in all, Bucky had no reason to suspect Tony of anything. And yet, his boyfriend was the only hope Peter had. Fresh tears escaped his eyes when he let his head fall back against the wall, whimpering. “P-Please, James… h-help me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm evil. Does anyone remember the main storyline? In the finale chapter, Tony had debated about locking Peter up into the bunker and keeping him there until he would have developed a serum. However, since he accidentally killed him, he didn't get to do it - or rather, I didn't get to write it, so here it is. I'm truly sorry, but by whumping Peter I'm blowing off steam lol.


	15. [15]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony executes his malicious plan; Bucky has doubts about Peter’s disappearance.

It was 5:30 am when Tony crawled back into bed, hoping to get at least three or four more hours of sleep before anyone found out about Peter missing. It was hard to find peace though; he was haunted by the sounds of Peter sobbing and yelling at him.

His sweet boy… he had been more scared than Tony expected. Sure, nobody liked to be kidnapped and chained to a wall, but he should have trusted Tony not to hurt him. Peter using his safe word had thrown him off guard, and although he’d barely been able to contain himself, he had to stop or he would have risked losing the last bit of trust Peter had in him.

However, Tony wouldn’t wait forever. If he didn’t come around in a few days, he’d just… do it. Peter would eventually like it. He knew he would.

At 9:30 am, Tony was woken up by FRIDAY. Thankful about nobody questioning Peter’s disappearance yet, he got up, shuffling into the living room. May was sitting at the kitchen table, smiling shyly. “Morning. I hope it’s okay that I served myself…” She held up her coffee mug.

“Of course, mi casa es su casa. Sorry, I actually didn’t want to sleep that long but the past few days have been a little tiring.”

“I guess you can say that,” May mumbled, taking another sip. “I’m afraid I’ll have to go to work again tomorrow. They need me, I can’t take off for so long.”

“Hm. Well, as I said, if you want me to organize some bodyguards, just tell me. It’s no problem, really.”

“I think I’m fine… but thank you, I really appreciate it. Have you heard anything from the blackmailers yet?”

“No, but I doubt they’d write to me of all people. I already checked some news sites but thankfully, no photos have been posted anywhere for now. Oh, but SHIELD released the composite sketches, without stating why they’re looking for these people, of course. Let’s hope someone recognizes them.”

Not even an hour later, May huffed that she would wake Peter up now. A minute later, she came back, looking a tad bit worried. “Do you have any idea where Peter is?”

“Hm? Isn’t he still in bed?”

“No… I’ve been up since around eight… weird.”

“Maybe he’s gone downstairs. I gave him back his phone yesterday, so you can call him.”

May tried, frowning when it went straight to voice mail. “Ugh, this boy… it’s turned off.”

Tony chuckled. “Well, you know him. He’s pretty… absentminded sometimes. I wanted to go downstairs anyways, want to come with me or should I send him up?”

“Oh, it’s fine, just tell him to call me, please.”

A few minutes later, Tony walked into the Avenger’s common room. Barnes, who was watching Sam and Rhodey playing FIFA on the PS4, sent him a quick, dark glare when Tony greeted everyone. _What the fuck was his problem anyway?_ “Morning.”

“Morning,” Nat replied without looking up from the book she was reading.

“Is Bruce here?” Tony asked, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible.

“No, he’s going to be in Manhattan all day.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot he’s lecturing at that science conference today.” Walking further into the room, Tony looked around noticeably. “Is Peter here?”

“No. Why?”

“Because May’s looking for him. He’s not upstairs so we figured he’d be here.”

Barnes frowned at that but didn’t say anything. Glancing at his watch, Tony saw he only had a few more minutes, so he sat down on the couch next to Rhodey and took out his phone, calling May. “Hey, sorry, Peter’s not here either. Maybe he’s gone to college?”

“Hm, yeah, maybe... I mean, he hasn’t said anything, but… hm. Thanks though.”

“No problem.” He hung up, engaging Rhodey in conversation about a military operation. His heart pounded more quickly by the second, waiting for Bucky’s phone, which was lying conveniently on the coffee table in front of them, to buzz. At 11:11 am sharp, the phone vibrated, but Barnes was too concentrated on the FIFA game to notice he had received a message.

Just when Tony opened his mouth to point it out to him, his own phone rang. “May?”

“P-Peter’s gone.”

Tony made sure to raise his voice a bit. “What do you mean, _‘Peter’s gone’_?”

Bucky turned his head so quickly that Tony was sure he’d strained a muscle. “He sent me a weird text about staying with a friend because he doesn’t want to put me in danger, but I don’t- I don’t know that that means because why would he stay with a friend when it’s so much safer here and-“

“May, calm down, please… I’m sure he’s okay. Maybe he’s staying with Ned or Michelle.”

“I already reached both of them, they don’t know anything. They- They also got weird texts from him, though... Tony, I’m worried he’s doing something stupid. You know how he is…”

“Yeah… I do. All right, want to come down? We’ll figure something out, I promise.”

As soon as he had hung up, Rhodey asked what’s going on. “Not sure. May got a text from Peter stating he was staying with a friend because he didn’t want to put her in any danger or something, but he only really has two friends and he’s not with them. I mean, they could lie, but…yeah.”

Although Barnes’ looked alarmed, he still made no move to look at his phone. May stumbled into the room a few minutes later, her hands shaking as she read aloud Peter’s message.

_“All of this has been a little much and I don’t want to put you in any more danger. I’m really sorry. I’ll stay with a friend for a while. I’ll call you later, there’s no need to worry…. Larb you_ – heart.” 

Tony was the first to speak.“ Are we sure he was the one who wrote that?”

“I think so,” May said, teary-eyed. “We always say ‘larb you’ instead of love you.” _You don’t say._ Analyzing Peter’s texts for weeks had definitely proved beneficial. “Why? Do you think- oh my god, do you think the blackmailers had anything to do with it?”

“No, not really… Hm. I’ll check something, wait a second.”

Tony went upstairs, waiting for a few minutes before taking the elevator down again. “As I assumed, the key to the Sypder is missing. I also took a quick look into his room and his laptop as well as most of his clothes are gone.”

“I don’t think he’d just leave,” Barnes interposed, looking spiteful. “Something’s wrong, I… I can feel it.”

“You can _feel_ it?” Tony asked before anyone else could have said anything. _Who the fuck did Barnes think he was?_ “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Barnes hesitated. “I’m just saying that there’s… been a few odd coincidences lately. Peter and I talked about it… we think HYDRA might be behind the blackmailing.”

Whereas May whimpered, Nat and Rhodey gasped. “Why would they blackmail him?” Sam asked.

“No idea, but I think we should inform SHIELD. Just in case. Steve’s with Sharon right now, he could-”

 _Fuck._ “FRIDAY, did you register the Spyder leaving the compound during the night or early morning?”

“Yes, boss. At 3:24 am the car was driven out of the garage.”

FRIDAY showed them the recording from yesterday; it was impossible to tell that Tony was the one driving it instead of Peter. “Hm. Do you have any videos showing who’s behind the steering wheel? Or anything else indicating that Peter took it?”

It was hard not to smirk when FRIDAY displayed the slightly altered holo-videos of Peter riding the elevator and walking through the garage. “Mr. Parker went down into the garage at 3:15 am today.”

“Thanks, FRI. Guess he did ‘just leave’, then,” Tony said, flashing Barnes a quick glance.

He still looked doubtful. “Then he left to take care of the problem himself. Maybe they contacted him and… threatened him or something. If they know he’s Spider-Man, they know he’s an Avenger. He might be strong, but he’s just a kid… they might think he’s an easier target than the rest of us.”

He couldn’t have said anything more convenient. “All right… May, I know Peter’s an adult, but you’re still his guardian, somewhat… I connected his phone to FRIDAY when he gave it to me two days ago. Would you allow me to check if he received any messages between me handing it back to him and driving off?”

After a bit of hesitation, May agreed. “Y-Yeah, um, okay. But don’t show anything from MJ or Ned, please… I don’t want to invade his privacy too much.”

“FRI, you heard us. You got anything?”

“I can’t access his phone right now, boss. Mr. Parker sent and received two e-mails from his laptop between 00:11 and 00:29 am though. He used your WI-FI.” Tony looked at May questioningly, who shrugged. “Show us, please.”

The color drained from Barnes’ face when FRIDAY displayed the messages.

_[OUT pbparker@gmail.com 00:11:34] “It’s done_ _😊🤙_ _”_

_[IN xud7sd@gmail.com 00:25:12] “You’re a fucking genius, babe. I love you so much.”_

_[OUT pbparker@gmail.com 00:26:58 “Ily2_ _❤_ _4:15?”_

_[IN xud7sd@gmail.com 00:28:49] “I’ll be waiting.”_

* * *

Aghast, Bucky sat down on the sofa. _This wasn’t possible… there had to be a mistake._ Peter wouldn’t lie to him like that. Not after he’d been cheated on by Tony for ages and not after… the intimacy they shared. Maybe Bucky was naïve, but his gut instinct told him that something was _completely_ wrong.

Wondering how Tony would react to it (after all, Peter had said he had jealousy issues), Bucky fixed his eyes on the man. Was he imagining it or had Tony been looking at him just now?

“W-What does that mean?” Ms. Parker asked, shaking.

“It… sounds like Peter run off with his boyfriend,” Nat said. “And… oh god, I don’t even want to say it.”

At this, Tony clenched his fists. “FRIDAY, can you trace back that mail address?”

“The account is registered under the name ‘Han Solo’. The emails were sent from an IP address in Brooklyn.”

“That’s definitely a fake name,” Tony snorted before turning to Ms. Parker. “Has Peter recently mentioned dating anyone?”

“N-No. You don’t think Peter l-lied, d-do you? He would n-never do that.“

“I don’t know what to think,” Tony growled. “To be honest, it would explain a lot.”

“Wait, what are you even talking about?” Rhodey asked, face contorted in confusion.

Tony sighed deeply before answering. “Look… I’m not saying he did it, but… That blackmail story was a bit odd. His suit didn’t show any signs of malfunctioning and his phone didn’t either. I doubt even HYDRA would be able to hack into my suit. Then, the photos… quite convenient that someone had a camera ready the second Peter took off his mask, right?”

“But… I thought we agreed someone set him up and lured him into a trap?”

“It’s a possibility, but as I said, the suit and his phone seemed totally fine. Also, Peter didn’t want to give his phone to me right away. I didn’t deem it possible at first, but… why would Peter tell some random person ‘It’s done’ and ‘I love you’ mere hours after I transferred ten million dollars to a BitCoin address, only to run away with my 500k car in the middle of the night?”

“Wait, you’re not saying he… faked all of that just to get to your money? He would never do that.”

“He’s been acting weird, lately. Love changes people.”

Bucky couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m with Ms. Parker and Rhodey. He would never do that.”

Tony glared at him. “Oh yeah? Didn’t you say you talked to him about HYDRA being behind it all? Maybe he wanted you to believe that so we wouldn’t-“

“Making us believe HYDRA is out to get him would make zero sense if he wanted us ‘not to worry’,” Bucky snapped. “Quite the opposite. If he really ran off with his boyfriend, I’m sure he’d trust us to believe his text about staying with a friend. I doubt he expected us to pry into his private messages.”

“Think what you want. I’ll fly to Brooklyn and check out that address. Tell me if you hear anything from him.” Tony turned around, stopping after a few steps. “Wait… I can’t believe I’m so goddamn stupid. FRIDAY, show us the location of Peter’s phone, please.”

“I can’t, boss. It appears he’s shut it off and taken out the battery.”

“What? He owns a normal smartphone… It’s possible to take out the battery of those.”

“It seems he’s using a new phone without internet capability where the battery might be exchangeable. I’m unable to locate his phone unless he turns it on.”

“Can you at least locate the transmitter mast Peter’s phone was logged into when he sent the text to May?”

“Sure. It’s a transmitter mast located near Highway 81 around Winchester, Virginia 22601.”

“ _Virginia_? All right, thanks, FRI.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Ms. Parker asked when Tony turned to go again.

“And tell them he faked getting blackmailed with Spider-Man pictures? I don’t think he’d like that very much. Also, I don’t… want to give him any more trouble than what’s necessary. That’s why I wouldn’t call SHIELD either, at least, not straight away.”

“But aren’t you… mad at him?”

“I am, but I’m sure he’ll have an explanation for it.”

Ms. Parker smiled, tears streaming down her face. “Thank you, Tony, I really appreciate it. H-He’s a good kid.”

Tony stepped into the elevator, sending one last glance at Bucky. “I know.”

Whereas Nat lay an arm around Ms. Parker’s shoulder, Bucky didn’t know what to think. Albeit everything did add up, he didn’t want to believe it. It had to be HYDRA behind it… Maybe the others would believe there’s a connection if he told them about dating Peter...

Frustrated, Bucky fetched his phone from the coffee table, his heart skipping a beat when he saw that he too had received a message from Peter thirty-six minutes ago. His stomach clenched when he read the text. _“I’m sorry for leaving like that but this is all too much. You’re a really great guy and deserve someone better.”_

Bucky wasn’t someone who cried easily, but at this, his eyes started to burn. Fuck. There were only two options, now. Peter was either a big, lying asshole or he was in great danger. If HYDRA kidnapped him, they obviously knew he was Spider-Man and that he was dating Bucky. They might have forced Peter to send those messages.

 _Although, why would he tell his aunt ‘I larb you’ then?_ If he had said ‘I love you’ instead, she might have realized something was wrong. Moreover, it neither explained the emails nor the fact that Peter drove off with Tony’s car in the middle of the night.

 _Fuck fuck fuck._ The only thing that made any sense was the version anyone else - including Peter’s _aunt_ , who had been raising him for the past eleven years - seemed to believe.

And yet, a stubborn voice inside his head reminded him that it didn’t explain the Winter Soldier triggering and the explosions at Peter’s home, though.

Groaning, Bucky buried his face in his hands. His head felt like it would burst any second. He didn’t think those incidents had given Peter the idea to stage a blackmailing because he had seemed convincingly surprised when Bucky assumed that HYDRA was behind everything.

 _Okay, okay, time to think it through again…_ HYDRA could have lured Peter out of the compound, sure, but they couldn’t have possibly faked the messages or the location they were sent from… right? If only Bucky knew more about these kinds of things. Unfortunately, only Tony knew how these things worked, and-

 _Wait. What if- no_. No no no, Bucky might despise Tony for what he did to Peter, but… NO _._ Tony wouldn’t do something like that. _Not a chance._

… Or would he?

After all, he would have never guessed that Tony had been cheating on Pepper with a male minor for almost two years, nevertheless abusing said minor, either. This showed him that he barely even knew Tony. Neither of them did, apparently.

Moreover, Bucky didn’t doubt for a second that Peter had been completely honest about his relationship with Tony, and unless Peter lied about Tony wanting him back, the man’s reaction was kind of… weird. He had barely even batted an eye about Peter betraying him and running off with some other guy.

The others might not have noticed anything weird about that, but they didn’t know what Tony had done to Peter. A guy with jealousy issues, who had abused his former partner, would not remain that calm.

 _Fuck._ Bucky had to be _extremely_ careful, now.

If he was wrong, Tony and the other Avengers would probably never speak to him again. They were his family… he couldn’t risk losing them.

If he was right, however, Peter might be in great danger, which meant Bucky couldn’t just _confront_ Tony about it.

No, first of all, Bucky needed to find out if there was any chance Tony knew about him and Peter. And the easiest way of finding out, was by _telling_ him.

* * *

Peter woke up when Tony entered the bunker from a thick iron door on the left wall. He was in his Iron Man armor, which retracted when he stepped closer. “Hey, good news, I have- Oh no… Oh my sweet angel, I’m so sorry.”

“I- I told you I had to g-go,” Peter sobbed, bowing his head in shame. “C-Can you please l-let me p-put on fresh pants? _Please._ ”

“Sure, I have- I have most of your clothes here.”

Peter sighed in relief when Tony brought him a new pair of jeans, but instead of taking the cuffs off, Tony started unbuttoning Peter’s besmirched pants. “W-What are you doing?”

“I thought you wanted a fresh pair of jeans?”

“Y-Yeah, but I- I want to clean myself, T-Tony, please, j-just uncuff me. _Please_!”

Tony sighed deeply. Then, he double tapped the symbol on his chest, changing into the armor once more. Peter sobbed in relief when Tony unchained the cuff around his right hand from the iron ring attached to the wall. The man frowned when he saw the already half-healed cuts, evidence of Peter’s desperate escape attempts. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“I won’t.”

Tony didn’t completely free his right hand; instead, he cuffed it to Peter’s left wrist before uncuffing that one from the wall as well. Peter’s legs were so numb that he could barely walk, forcing Tony to drag him to the bathroom.

Tony kept standing in the doorway, making no move to give him some actual privacy. “One wrong move and I’ll put you out with the sonic taser again.”

Peter nodded weakly, having lost all hope and courage to try and overpower him. What a fucking stupid plan. Now he embarrassed himself by purposefully pissing his pants for nothing.

It was quite a challenge to get out of the jeans and wash himself with his cuffed, numb hands. Despite Tony having seen him naked before about a hundred times already, Peter felt deeply ashamed being exposed like this. What could he do, though?

“May I please use the toilet, now?” he asked when he had finished washing his private parts. “I have to… _you know._ ”

“Go on.”

“Tony… c-can you _please_ give me some privacy here? I won’t-“

“If you don’t want me to put you in a diaper, you’ll do it like this.”

 _He couldn’t believe this._ When he was finally done with everything, Tony dragged him back into the room. “Can you please l-let me lie down at least?”

“No. Sit.” Whimpering, Peter allowed Tony to cuff him back to the wall like before. He was way too weak right now to hold any chance against Tony in his armor. “Want some water?”

“Please.”

Tony also brought him milk and some cereal, which he fed to Peter as if he were a baby. Afterwards, he told him that his plan had worked. “As you can imagine, May’s a little disappointed. If you ask me nicely, I’ll let you speak to her, though.”

 _Ask him nicely?_ It’s kind of obvious what he wanted, and Peter knew he would need to give in at least a tiny bit. He _had to_ talk to May and try to give her some sort of clue. Also, he needed Tony to start trusting him. “Please, Tony … I don’t want her to worry, I’m… everything she got left. Please let me talk to her… I’ll do anything.”

Tony came closer. “ _Anything_?”

A shiver ran down Peter’s spine. “I- I could… p-pleasure _d-daddy_ with my mouth?”

Tony looked as if Christmas came early. “Oh, that would make daddy very, _very_ happy.” In seconds, he had unbuttoned his pants, moving next to Peter’s head. For a wild second, the boy thought about biting Tony’s cock off, but even though it would definitely provide him with some sort of satisfaction, it would probably be the _stupidest_ thing he could do right now.

Not wanting to sign his own death warrant just yet, Peter wrapped his lips around the head of Tony’s cock, not wasting any time before he started to suck. He intended to get this over with as quickly as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you didn’t mind to read from Bucky’s POV 😉 This probably wasn’t all too exciting, but since the Starker AU is finished now, I’ll be updating weekly from now on 👀 And before you all scream at me that Bucky should have done something already: try to put yourself in his shoes. Tony thought this through pretty well (I think/hope?) and accusing Tony without any sort of evidence would be stupid.


	16. [16]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky tries to find out if Tony has anything to do with Peter's disappearance.

When it was finally over, Tony affectionately wiped the tears from Peter’s cheek with his thumb. “I hope I wasn’t too rough?”

Peter couldn’t contain himself. “Don’t worry, you’re little compared to Bucky.”

With a nasty growl, Tony raised his fist, but he didn’t hit him. Instead, he grabbed a handful of Peter’s hair. “Speaking of… You should have seen the look on Barnes face when he found out he was just your side whore. He was… crushed and so _disappointed._ I think you broke his heart.”

For a second, Peter was tempted to spit into Tony’s face, but the prospect of having to talk to May made him take a few deep breaths. If he ever got out of here, he’d be able to explain it to Bucky anyways. “I j-just… I didn’t think, I am sorry. And... I'm sorry if I d-disappointed you.”

Scowling, Tony let his hair go, taking his and Peter’s phone out of his pocket. He typed around a bit before showing Peter the screen. The boy gasped when he saw what looked like a livestream of May in the penthouse. She was sitting on the couch, watching TV. “Have I ever told you about my small Iron Man drones?”

“N-No?”

“They are similar to your Spider drone, but are a lot more dangerous. They aren’t as fatal as my Combat drones, but they can easily kill someone like May. If you say _anything_ you’re not supposed to… well, I’ll have to protect myself, you see? I’m gonna be honest, I like your aunt. I _don’t_ want to hurt her, but I am sure you’ll understand that you and I are more important. Please don’t make me kill her, Peter.”

Tears were streaming down Peter’s face. He didn’t doubt for a second that Tony would actually have it in him to do it. “O-Oh god… p-please… please don’t hurt her.”

“It’s completely up to you.”

“I- I’ll be good. W-What do you want me to tell her?”

“How thoughtful of you to ask,” Tony smiled. “Don’t make anything up about your whereabouts. Say you can’t tell her where you are because you’re afraid of the blackmailers. If she asks you about making it up, about your boyfriend, or about stealing all that money from me, act like you don’t know what she’s talking about. Act enraged.”

Well, that wouldn’t be so hard because Peter barely had any idea about Tony’s fucking master plan in the first place. “O-Okay. What if I don’t know what to say?”

“Then you either say anything or repeat after me… Ready?”

 _No._ “Yes.”

Only after Tony had pressed the call button, Peter realized that he could have denied wanting to speak to May in the hopes that she _would_ actually get worried and call the police. On the other hand, if she really believed Tony’s lies, who said that she-

“P-Peter? Thank god, are you okay?”

Fighting down the sudden urge to sob, Peter desperately tried to clear his throat. “H-Hey May. Everything’s fine, um… J-Just taking a break from all of this. I’m sorry I l-left so abruptly.”

“Where are you, sweetie?”

“I can’t tell you… I, um, can’t let them know where I am.”

Whereas May stayed silent for a few seconds, Tony nodded approvingly. “Peter… sweetheart, we saw your emails.”

“What emails?”

“Please tell me it’s not true… Please tell me that you didn’t lie to me and… to Tony.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t do anything.” _Oh god, he sounded so wooden._

(Un)fortunately, May was way too agitated to notice anything. “Don’t take me for an idiot. You told someone you _‘love’_ that _‘it was done’_ right after Tony paid ten million dollars. And then you drove off with Tony’s car to pick said person up?”

“… Wait, do you think I made this all up? You can’t be serious, May, I just need a break and- I don’t want put you in danger.”

“You’re _not_ putting me in danger. Please, sweetie, come back. Let’s talk about this, and-“

“No. I- I can’t believe you’d think that of me.” It was the last thing Peter managed to choke out before bursting into a flood of tears. Tony used it as an opportunity to end the call.

“Good job, baby. Now, I want you to record a few lines for me.”

* * *

Bucky was barely listening when Ms. Parker _\- May_ \- told them about Peter’s call shortly before dinner. Although it basically confirmed Peter had lied to them and run off, Bucky still couldn’t believe it. He didn’t blame May (or any of the others) for not having any doubts, though. She knew Peter a lot better than he did, but she neither knew about his abusive relationship with Tony, nor did she have any idea what HYDRA was capable of. Moreover, they all liked Tony a lot more than Bucky did.

A few minutes after they had sat down, Tony joined them as well. Although Bucky wanted nothing more than to beat the living hell out of him for what he had already done and might still be doing to Peter, he knew he couldn’t. Not without proof.

“There you are,” Tony said to May, dropping into an empty chair. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Sorry, Ms. Romanoff invited me down for dinner… Have you been able to find out whom the address in Brooklyn belongs to?” May asked, voice shaking.

“Yes and no. It’s a fucking coffee shop and whoever sent those mails used their public WI-FI. I spoke to the employees, but neither of them was working that night. I left them my number, though. I can try to find out the MAC address of the phone or laptop that was used and trace it back to its owner, but I’m afraid I might need a sort of search warrant for that.”

“D-Does that mean you’re going to inform the police after all?”

“Unless we think Peter’s in any sort of danger, no. He could go to jail for _years_ for this and I most certainly don’t want that. I don’t care about the money. I just want to know why he lied to us.”

It would be the perfect moment for Bucky to tell them about his ‘second’ theory regarding HYDRA doing all of this because of his relationship to Peter, but he needed Tony to be alone when he told him. Having the others around could influence his reaction…

The fact that Tony was quite a good actor was proven once more when May told him about the call. He gave an Oscar-worthy performance, sounding and looking genuinely surprised and agitated about it. ~~Or Tony was innocent and Bucky completely wrong.~~

After dinner, Bucky pulled himself together and asked Tony for a word alone. Frowning, the man followed him into his room. “What is it?”

“I don’t want to worry May,” he lied. “Tony, I think that Peter _is_ in danger.”

Tony sighed. “Look… Barnes, I don’t want to believe it myself, but all the signs point to one direction. Peter fell in love with some asshole who probably talked him into stealing all that money from me.”

“You see, I don’t think that he’s run off with some guy.”

Tony still managed to keep a straight face. “Oh yeah? Why not?”

Bucky took a deep breath; _here it comes_. “Because we’ve been dating for a few weeks now.”

At first, Tony didn’t react at all. He simply gaped at Bucky, apparently unable to comprehend what he just heard. _Fuck, maybe he hadn’t known about it after all…_ “Um… you and _Peter_?”

“Yes. I’m sorry we’ve been keeping it from you guys, but we first wanted to see if we really liked each other and… yeah. The day before he left, we agreed to make it official and tell everyone by the end of the week.”

“Well, that’s… um, quite a surprise, but… Look, I understand that you’re upset that he lied to you as well and… used you, I guess, but this doesn’t mean that he’s in danger.”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Aren’t you mad? I mean, you’ve been very keen on me staying away from him.”

Tony shifted. “Yeah, because you attacked him. I wanted to protect him in case you did it again.”

“About that, by the way. I guess I don’t have to tell you that both Peter and I lied to you after the attack. I’m sure you remember assuming that he had only flirted with me to make you _jealous_.”

“Well… yeah, what else was I supposed to think? I told you that he had a crush on me… Jesus, Barnes, I obviously had no idea you guys were actually dating or I wouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

 _Okay. Something definitely was up._ “So, you’re just… fine with it. Me and him, I mean.”

“I honestly think there are more important things right now. Besides, I’m not the one seeing him through rose-colored glasses, refusing to accept that he’s ran off with his _actual_ boyfriend. Now, please excuse me, but I have to talk to May.”

As Tony left the room, Bucky felt horribly sick. Tony had neither reacted like a ‘dad’ who was worried about his son dating a ‘dangerous’, much older guy, nor like a jealous ex-boyfriend who wanted him back so desperately… which could only mean-

 _He had already known they were dating._ Although it wasn’t proof that he had anything to do with Peter’s disappearance, it was enough to convince Bucky that he should tell Steve about his assumption.

However, as soon as Bucky returned to the living room, May’s phone rang. “I-It’s Peter again.”

Thunderstruck, Bucky froze, his eyes fixed on _Tony_ standing a few feet away from her. What the… “Let me talk to him,” Tony said, taking the phone from May. “FRI, make sure to get his location. Put the call on speaker.” Then, he picked up. “Peter, it’s Tony. Please don’t hang up. I just want to talk to you.”

Bucky waited with bated breath; for a few seconds, there was no sound, but then- “But I don’t want to talk to you. Where’s May?”

 _No. Oh god, no._ He was _wrong._

“She’s right here. We all are… Please, come back, I’m not mad. I don’t care about the money, you can keep it, I just want you to come home and-“

“What the fuck is wrong with all of you? I don’t know what you’re talking about, I haven’t-“

“You know _exactly_ what I’m talking about. We can sort this all out… I won’t press charges, Peter. I-“

_Beep._

Tony cursed, handing the phone back to May. “FRI, please tell me you got something.”

“Sure, boss.” The AI zoomed in on some a map. “1205 Main Ave Dr NW, Hickory, North Carolina.”

“Is he moving?”

“Not during the call. The connection is gone, now.”

“All right, I’ll take the Quinjet. Anyone wanna come with me?”

“I will,” Bucky mumbled, still not over the shock of being so terribly wrong.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Steve promptly said, “not before we’ve found out who triggered you.”

 _Right…_ Seemed it was a coincidence after all.

Whereas Tony, Steve, Rhodey and Nat got ready to fly to North Carolina, May went back into the penthouse, leaving Bucky behind with Sam and Bruce. The two men talked about Peter, but Bucky didn’t engage in the conversation. Instead, he took another look at the text Peter sent him. _It hurt._

His attention was drawn to the conversation when Sam said that he didn’t understand why nobody wanted to inform the police. “I mean, they don’t have to tell them what Peter did, but they could report him missing. The police have other methods of tracking people’s phones.”

Bruce sighed. “Peter’s an adult. If they tell him that he ran away, they won’t do anything. I’ll trust May’s judgment and Tony’s abilities. If FRIDAY can’t track Peter, no system can.”

“Is she that powerful?” Bucky inquired, grasping at straws.

“Oh yeah. I don’t think there’s anything the system can’t do.”

“Could it… fake texts, locations and surveillance videos?”

“Um… not unless someone hacked it, which is almost impossible,” Bruce eventually said. “It can’t create fake videos, though. It could only alter existing ones. But you should ask Tony when he’s back... he’s the real expert when it comes to A.I.s.”

 _And when it came to manipulating people._ It was creepy how blindly they all trusted him. Tony was the only one FRIDAY was completely ‘loyal’ to… A few weeks ago, Nat complained about it when FRIDAY refused to deactivate a camera at the compound. And after the attack, it literally controlled their messages and calls, which was the main reason why Bucky and Peter had used that Snapchat app, after all. _How convenient._

He needed to talk to Peter. Although he felt incredibly naïve and ashamed, Bucky had to find out if there was _any chance_ that Tony – or anyone else - was holding him captive somewhere.

But how could he get Peter or his ‘captors’ to call him? After an hour of racking his brain about it, Bucky settled for a disgusting, but simple lie, texting him: _“Call me, or I’ll release the sex tape we made. I give you 24 hours.”_

If Peter ran off, he would probably call and ask what sex tape Bucky was talking about. If Peter was a captive of HYDRA (which he deemed unlikely after the phone call with Tony), they most likely wouldn’t care, which meant he wouldn’t call.

If Peter was with Tony, however, the man might let him call, at least if he was as jealous as Peter had said he was. And if Peter acted as if he ‘knew’ about the video… then there was clearly something wrong, which meant Bucky could carefully inquire about it.

And he already had an idea _how_ …

* * *

Everything hurt. His back, his wrists, his legs, his butt… Even worse, though, was the hunger and _thirst_. Tony hadn’t come to see him since the phone call, which must have been hours ago given how urgently he had to pee again. He wished his hands were cuffed together so he’d have a chance of dislocating his thumb, but with how it was, he couldn't do shit.

Just when he thought he couldn’t take it anymore, the doors of the elevator opened. “T-Tony, please… I need to use the- the toilet.”

“You know the deal. One wrong move and you’ll be paralyzed.”

Trying to escape was the last thing on Peter’s mind right now. He just wanted to release himself with some sort of dignity. Therefore, he let Tony, who changed into his suit once more, uncuff and drag him to the bathroom like last time.

Afterwards, he considered trying to overpower him, but he didn’t dare to. Not until May was safely back home in Queens, away from Tony’s killer drones. How ironic that Peter had taken her to the compound to _keep her safe_ in the first place.

While feeding him a sandwich, Tony told him about flying to North Carolina with Steve, Nat and Rhodey. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any trace of you or your boyfriend. Only a lousy, run-down Wendy’s.”

“You can’t do this forever,” Peter mumbled, trying once more to plead with Tony. “Please, Tony. It’s not too late… N-Nobody got h-hurt. You can still let me go and- I promise I won’t say anything. I will confess to staging the blackmailing and-”

“I can’t trust you anymore, baby boy. You’ve lied to me over and over again, recently. Even Barnes confessed it to me earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

“He told me you’re dating and that you both lied to me after he had attacked you.”

Panic surged through Peter’s body, praying that Bucky hadn’t said anything about Peter telling him about Tony. “W-Why did he tell you t-that?”

“I guess because he still couldn’t believe that you ran off with some other guy and wanted us to chase after HYDRA. I’m sure he does now, though. He listened to me talking to ‘you’ when ‘you’ called May again.”

So that’s why Tony had made him record these sentences earlier today. He couldn’t even cry anymore. Obviously pretty satisfied with himself, Tony leaned forward to kiss him goodbye. “I’m sure you understand how tired I am, but I promise you’ll have my full attention tomorrow.”

His eyes darted to Peter’s private parts. Sobbing, the boy quickly bent his legs, already dreading the next day. There was no hope, anymore. Tony had thought it through perfectly, he had to give him that. If not even Bucky, the only person who knew about their relationship, saw through it, nobody would.

Hours later, Tony came back, looking less tired and wearing fresh clothes. “Your fucking aunt, I swear to god… she just whined at me for about thirty minutes that your stupid-ass friends are worried because you haven’t texted them back yet.”

He fetched Peter’s phone from the bundle that was Peter’s clothes, laptop and backpack, and turned it on. It immediately buzzed angrily, signaling a bunch of incoming texts or notifications. “Oh yeah, they sent you like-“

Peter looked up when Tony froze, staring at his phone as if it was a bomb. “What the-“ His eyes widened, and seconds later, he swooped down on Peter, raising his fist. “You made a fucking sex tape with Barnes?!”

“W-What? N-No, I haven’t.”

“Then how do you explain this?” Tony roared, turning the screen around. Peter gasped when he read the text, shell-shocked. This wasn’t possible… Bucky surely hadn’t secretly filmed them… Did Tony fake it to-

 _Wait._ Bucky wanted Peter to _call_ him. He wanted to speak to him. He barely dared to hope, but maybe he could give him a hint or something without Tony getting suspicious?

His mind raced when he tried to come up with something. “Oh god, I- I’m sorry, Tony, I th-thought I could trust him…”

“You’re such a fucking slut,” Tony growled, grabbing his chin. “I asked you so many times to record one with me and you always refused.”

“I k-know, I’m sorry, I just wanted to impress him. Shit, T-Tony, I- Please let me talk to him, I don’t want him to leak it. I don’t want the w-whole world to see me, um, c-crying his name as I c-come on his cock. I won’t tell him anything, _please._ ”

Cursing, Tony let go, walking nervously around the room. Peter was about to offer Tony sex when the man kneeled back down, glaring at him. “All right. You have a minute to convince him not to release it. If you tell him _anything_ , I’ll make sure the cab May’s taking to work right now will get into a tragic accident, all right?”

To prove his point, Tony released one of his Stark Industries Combat Drones, which located May’s cab in seconds. Peter now prayed that Bucky wouldn’t say anything dire. If he mentioned knowing about Tony or having any doubts about his story, then… _oh god._

Anxiously, Peter watched Tony press the ‘call’ button. His heart pounded rapidly while they waited for Bucky to pick up.

“About time.”

Whereas Tony was smirking at Bucky’s plainly audible anger, Peter was shaking terribly. “Please don’t leak the video, Bucky, please… D-Do you want money?”

“… N-No, I just need to hear it directly from you. You’re with your ex, right?”

 _Oh. God. Could that mean…?_ When Tony’s pupils widened in confusion and _alarm,_ Peter knew he had to come up with something, _fast_. “You mean… Brian?”

With bated breath, Peter waited for Bucky’s response. “… Yeah. Unless you had more than one and didn’t tell me.”

Peter almost cried in relief. _Bucky was onto Tony. He would save him._ “N-No. It was just him and yeah, I’m with him. I j-just love him so much… I’m so sorry, Bucky. I never meant to hurt you, you gotta _believe_ me. Please don’t leak the sex tape… I don’t want May to get _hurt_.”

Peter prayed that Bucky understood that May was in great danger and that he would need to be careful. A few seconds went by before he responded.

“I see,” the man hissed, his voice cold and angry. “Have a great life, Peter.” With that, Bucky ended the call, showing no indication that he had caught on to Peter’s hidden message.

The boy didn’t have to fake being overcome by desperate tears; even though he was now pretty sure that Bucky knew he was being held captive by Tony, Peter was terribly scared.

Apparently, rightfully so; a second later, Tony’s hand closed around his throat, his eyes sparkling with fury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the finish line... there's only one more chapter after this.


	17. [17]

“Who the fuck is Brian?”

“N-Nobody,” Peter choked. “There is no Brian. It’s the name I made up when Bucky asked me about my ex – meaning _you -_ once.”

“Why did you even tell him you have an ex-boyfriend?”

“B-Because I mentioned him at my birthday party and he asked me about him. I swear, I told him nothing, j-just that we dated.”

Tony eased his grip a little bit. “What you told Steve on your seventeenth birthday was not _nothing_ , though.”

“Y-You know about that?”

“Yes. I heard every single word you said because FRIDAY recorded it.”

“Th-Then you know Steve made a mountain out of a molehill. I n-never told him – or anyone else – about you, I swear. I was just… c-confused back then. Please, I am so sorry.”

“You still should have said ‘No’ when Barnes asked you if you were with your ex. If he tells Steve, he might think you’re with someone who… fucking _abuses_ you.”

“But it’s the perfect excuse,” Peter sobbed, “Brian doesn’t exist and i-it’s plausible because I always told Bucky how much I l-loved him. Brian, I mean. I even admitted that I STILL loved him despite trying to move on with Bucky.”

Tony pondered about it for a second. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all… Now he could claim he found out that the _xud7sd_ gmail address belonged to a guy named Brian. “Hm. Let’s hope you’re right or there’ll be major consequences... for you _and_ for Barnes. Now, help me with the replies to your friends.”

* * *

Bucky didn’t remember if he’d ever been this furious – or scared - before. He had been _right_. Tony had kidnapped Peter and fooled all of them. Peter had sounded so fucking scared and desperate… It was heartbreaking. Hopefully, Tony hadn’t realized what Peter had told him or he’d probably-

 _No._ Bucky couldn’t even think about it. He had to act, fast. Problem was that Peter was obviously worried something would happen to May, and since Bucky didn’t know what Tony was actually capable of, he had to be careful.

On his way to the living room, his eyes fell on one of the cameras that Nat had complained about. _Fuck._ Tony had his eyes and ears everywhere, but he had to inform the others. Steve, Sam and Nat, at least. They weren’t as close to Tony as Rhodey and Bruce were.

“Can I talk to you?” he whispered in Steve’s ear, who frowned. “Sure.”

“In my room, please. And leave your phone here.”

Although Steve seemed confused, he did what Bucky asked. A few minutes later, Steve, Nat and Steve were gathered in Bucky’s room, watching confusedly as Bucky rummaged through his shelves.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for any potential… speakers or whatever. I don’t want anyone to hear us.”

“Speakers? There are no speakers or cameras in our bedrooms.”

“Not in yours, at least.”

“Bucky… what’s going on?”

Giving up, he turned around, barely able to hold himself together anymore. “Tony is behind everything,” he whispered, eyes swimming in tears. “He kidnapped Peter and is now holding him captive.”

For a few seconds, his three friends just stared at him. Nat was the first one to come around. “Are you on drugs?”

“I wish. This is no joke, you gotta believe me. Please. And we have to act fast or he will-“

“Stop stop stop,” Steve said, looking concerned. “These are… serious accusations, Bucky. Why would Tony kidnap Peter?”

“Because… _fuck,"_ Bucky cursed, hoping Peter would forgive him for it. “Because Tony had secretly dated Peter for almost two years.”

When the others exchanged a frown, he took a deep breath. “It’s true. There’s no time to tell you all the details, but it started when Peter was sixteen. Tony claimed that him and Pepper were only acting like they were still together so Tony didn’t have to come out as gay. Peter found out he had been lied to on his eighteenth birthday when they announced their engagement and pregnancy. I’m sure you all remember how weird Peter acted that day and that he mentioned his lying, cheating ex or whatever. Anyways, they broke up, but Tony wants him back, and since that didn’t work out, he kidnapped him.”

“You can’t be serious,” Nat said when Bucky was done ranting. “I mean… you know I love this boy with all my heart, but this doesn’t make any sense. Tony wouldn’t- I mean, I’m sure we would have noticed if those two had secretly been dating.”

“Well, you haven’t seemed to notice that _me_ and Peter are secretly dating either.”

“You are WHAT?”

They all stared at him in complete shock, and Bucky felt a surge of anger rushing through him. _They’re wasting time._ “Yes. It started like a month ago, and ever since then, all these weird things have been happening. One of our dates was interrupted by explosions, forcing Peter to swing around the whole neighborhood for hours. We never found out what caused it. Then, a few days later, I got triggered into attacking him. Same night, Tony approached Peter in his room and asked him to get back together. A few hours later, he came to my room and told me some bullshit about Peter only playing me to make _him_ jealous because of some stupid _crush_ he claimed Peter had on him. Then, this blackmailing shit happened and Peter vanished without a sight.”

Sam shook his head. “I get it, these are weird coincidences, but… you saw the texts and the video and-“

“Which were all shown to us by _FRIDAY._ The only one who completely understands and _controls_ her is Tony.”

“And what about the call? You were there, he _spoke to Tony_.”

“Sam, we’re wasting time. I spoke to Peter myself twenty minutes ago. I tricked Tony into letting him call me. Peter confirmed it.”

“He confirmed that _Tony_ was holding him captive?”

“Well, he obviously couldn’t say it that directly because I assume Tony was right there with him, but I asked him if he was with his ex and he immediately said ‘yes’. He only had one ex. He also… managed to tell me that he was scared about May. I think Tony is threatening to hurt her, so we have to be careful.”

Nat clenched her fists. “Fuck… I can’t- Are you _sure_ about this?”

“One-hundred percent. Tony’s been lying to us, just like he’s been lying to Peter and Pepper for years. He… mistreated Peter, too. Abused him and shit.”

“Fuck,” Steve groaned, causing the others to raise their eyebrows. When _Steve_ swore, things were _really. fucking. serious._ “He- He told me about Tony. On his seventeenth birthday, after we went for a test drive with the car.”

“Why the fuck have you never said anything?” Bucky hissed angrily.

“I had no idea he was talking about Tony. He claimed it was a guy from school, who wasn’t ready to come out for ‘another year’ and… I was convinced the guy was a cheater. Peter then told me that… the guy abused him and I- I told _Tony_ about it later because I was worried about him. And Tony was really mad too. Guess now I know why.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Nat growled, turning around to leave when Steve called her back.

“You can’t let him know that we’re onto him. We need to find out where he’s holding Peter and… make sure May’s safe as well.”

“I’ll just beat it out of him.”

“Trust me, there’s nothing I’d rather do,” Bucky growled, “but what if he… still doesn’t tell us because he’d rather die and let Peter starve so that… nobody else can have him?”

“What if he realized Peter was giving you clues, though? What if he’s hurting him right now?”

“Peter would never forgive us if anything happened to May,” Bucky said, hating himself for it. “We just have to act innocent and hope that Tony… actually loves Peter in a fucked-up sort of way and that he won’t just kill him like that. But we need to be fast. Can we find out where his or Peter’s phone is without having to ask FRIDAY?”

“I don’t think so,” Sam sighed “We can only try to find out where he’s going next time he… visits him.”

“Scott could help,” Nat suggested.

“Scott’s in California. Even with the Quinjet it would take him a few hours to get here.”

Sam’s eyes widened. “He’s not. He’s up in Boston with Hope, doing… whatever it is they’re actually doing. I can fly over there and get him.”

“Oh, thank god… I think Rhodey should do it though, the War Machine suit is a lot faster,” Nat said. “We need to tell him and Bruce anyway. You should fly to Queens and protect May. She should be at the hospital already. Bring her to SHIELD but leave her phone at work. Should we call Vision and Wanda too?”

“They’re in Europe, Nat. They’d never be here on time.”

“All right, just Scott, then. Sam, make sure to use the landline in the guest room when you call him. It’s the only phone not connected to FRIDAY. We shouldn’t take any unnecessary risks alerting him.”

* * *

Cursing, Tony closed his laptop. He hadn’t found any traces of a sex tape on Barnes’ phone, which meant he would have to look in his room for a flash drive or something.

Peter had stopped crying half an hour ago. He was sitting there in complete silence, looking like a picture of misery. “Don’t worry, baby. I promise I’ll kill him if he leaks the video.”

Whimpering, Peter shook his head. “What happened to us, Tony? We were so… happy, once. Y-You were my life. I w-would have done anything for you.”

And just like that, Tony’s heart broke. “Don’t you see this is why I’m doing this? I need you to forget about all these unfortunate things that had to happen so we can be _us_ again.”

Fresh tears were running down Peter’s face. “I might forget them, but you won’t. You would always have to live with lying to me _again_. You would never be free of your guilt.”

“It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to take. For you. For us…”

Tony crouched down before him, wiping away the tears before kissing him tenderly. As soon as he reached for Peter’s belt, the boy whimpered. “N-No, Tony, please… _Lightsaber_.”

“You can’t be fucking serious,” Tony hissed, glaring at him. “I won’t tolerate you using your safe word every single time I’m trying to do anything.”

“I w-won’t, but… I- I’m not in the mood. I literally just found out Bucky has a sex tape of me and- Tony, please, I s-sucked you off yesterday. I c-can’t do this right now.”

Growling, Tony stood up. “You know, I do think I’m a little too nice to you. Maybe I should let you piss your pants again.”

“N-No, please, I- _Fuck_ , okay, j-just do what you have to do.”

Tony ignored him and stepped into the elevator, leaving the sobbing teen behind. How should he get into Barnes room? Should he claim that Peter called him about the sex tape and asked for help? That would probably be too far-fetched…

Still, Tony wanted to see if everything was all right, so he went up into the common rooms. He casually walked into the living room, but only Barnes and Steve were there, quietly debating over something. “Where is everyone?”

At this, the two gave a start and turned around, staring at him as if he was a ghost. “J-Jesus, Tony… Don’t sneak up on us like that,” Steve mumbled, his eyes cold.

Tony snorted. “Sneak up on you? You two have enhanced hearing.” His gaze wandered to Bucky, who glared at him as hatefully as Tony glared at him. _What now?_ “So? Where is everyone?”

“Rhodey and Sam are doing some training,” Steve said, sounding oddly robotic, “and Bruce and Nat are… spending some time in private.”

“U-huh. Is… everything all right? You two look a little tense.” Had Bucky told Steve about dating Peter and talking to him on the phone?

“Actually… um, Sharon just called me and said they might have a lead on the composite sketches.”

 _Shit._ “Really? What did she say?”

“Nothing so far…only that they might have a suspect and will interrogate him soon… What are you doing?” Steve asked when Tony took out his phone. “Calling Fury.”

“Please don’t… Sharon told me that in confidence. She doesn’t want her boss to think that she’s telling me things before they’re official.”

Rolling his eyes, Tony put it away again and turned around to go. “Fine. Let me know if there’s any _real_ news. I’ll be upstairs.”

* * *

“I want to fucking kill him,” Bucky spat as soon as the elevator doors had closed. He was so _fucking angry_ he was afraid he might become the Winter Soldier without any sort of triggering. “Promise me I’ll get to do it after we’ve saved Peter.”

“We can’t kill him, Bucky. I understand that you want to, I really do, but it’s not what we do. Not… unless it’s absolutely necessary. He’ll have a trial and go to jail.”

“You’re too fucking ethical, Steve,” Bucky hissed, rushing off before he’d lose his head. Over the course of the next three hours, Steve, Nat, and Bucky took turns watching the elevator display closely. As long as Tony didn’t fly anywhere directly from the penthouse, they’d know if he left the compound.

Finally, Rhodey came back with not only an ant-sized Scott on his shoulder, but with Hope as well. “Sorry it took so long,” Scott apologized, looking extremely distressed.

“It’s fine,” Bucky said, “Thanks for helping us.”

“Of course. I’m just glad we were in Boston. Where’s Tony?”

“Still upstairs, we hope. Can you fly up or should we lure him down?” Bucky looked at Hope questioningly.

“If we fit through the gap in the elevator doors, we’ll just fly up.”

“Awesome. He won’t hear you if you communicate with us?”

“No. The only reason he heard me in the suit back then in Leipzig was because I was literally _in_ his suit and technically enhanced my voice.”

“Okay… let’s hope it won’t take too long until he visits Peter again.”

A minute later, Hope flew off with Scott. With bated breath, Bruce, Nat, Steve, Bucky and Rhodey listened to them flying up the elevator shaft. “Okay, we’re in the penthouse… Tony’s here, he’s sitting on the couch, doing… something on his phone… Hope dropped me off in his hair.”

For the next few hours, nothing exciting happened. Tony stayed in the penthouse, reading some magazines on his tablet and watching some TV. Bucky was losing patience, especially because his friends seemed to get more doubtful with every hour that passed.

Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore. “We have to find a way to make him go to Pete. What if he hurt Peter after all or left him with enough supplies to last for days? Also, Pepper will come home tomorrow, right? We can’t wait, we have to safe him, _now_!”

Fortunately, Nat had an idea. “We could claim that we got a call and that it sounded like Peter. He’d probably freak out and think Peter might have managed to contact us, so he’ll – hopefully – go and check on him.”

“What if that’s an hour away? Rhodey is the only one who can follow him, and even if FRIDAY didn’t alert Tony about it, we would still risk him hurting Peter. Hope and Scott can’t take Tony alone if he’s in his suit.”

“Big Scott can.”

“I don’t like this idea, Nat.”

“Do you have a better one?”

Bucky cursed, shaking his head. “No… fuck, I’m- I’m just… scared.”

“Tony probably won’t hurt him if he realizes that Peter didn’t call him.”

“He’ll know we lied to him, though.”

“Not if we tell him we only _think_ it was Peter. Let me do it…”

“No,” Rhodey said. “I’ll do it. He… trusts me the most.” He hadn’t taken the news lightly, but he had believed Bucky. He had even admitted that Tony had asked him to keep an eye on Bucky and Peter. 

After fetching his phone from his room, Rhodey called Tony. “Hey, is there any way we can trace back a call to the landline?”

“Um… no, it’s not connected to FRIDAY. I could ask the phone company, though. Why?”

“Because we think Peter just called.”

“He _what_? A-Are you sure?”

“Not one-hundred percent, but it sounded like him. It was a _very_ bad connection, but I think- I think he was asking for help, Tony.”

“Fuck, I- o-okay, stay close to the phone in case he calls again. Call me immediately if he does, I’ll… I’ll contact the phone company right away.”

A few seconds later, Scott told them that Tony hurried into the elevator and pressed the button for the lab. “… All right, he’s heading into the lab. We’re… standing in front of a wall now, and- oh god, there’s a hidden door. He told FRIDAY to open it… it looks quite robust.”

Without hesitation, the others called the elevator back up, waiting impatiently for it to come. Meanwhile, Scott told them that he and Tony were stepping into another elevator. “Hope’s behind us. We’re going down… We’re… _oh my god._ ”

“What is it?” Bucky hissed when their elevator set in motion.

Since Scott didn’t seem capable of answering, Hope did. “Seems you were right. We’re in some sort of bunker… The boy is here, he’s- chained to a wall.”

And just like that, Bucky saw _red_. Fuck Steve’s objections. He would _kill_ that fucking son of a bitch.

* * *

The second Tony stepped out of the elevator, he charged at Peter. “What did you do?”

“W-What?” Frowning, the boy watched Tony kneeling down to check the cuffs. “T-Tony, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, I- … Hm.” The man glanced around before he went and fetched Peter’s phone, checking something before putting it into his pocket. “I’ll better take that with me.”

“H-Hey, um, I’m sorry about earlier. Please. This is all just… scary for me.”

Tony sighed. “I know, baby. And I’m sorry too for… putting so much pressure on you. We’ll take it slow, okay?” _How generous._ “I’ll help you into the bathroom now, if you want.”

For a second, Peter thought he’d heard a noise coming from the elevator, but the doors were – and remained – closed. “O-Okay… thank you.”

Tony had barely uncuffed his right wrist from the wall when out of nowhere, _Scott_ appeared behind Tony, wearing his ant-man suit. Peter gasped, unfortunately alerting Tony that something was happening, but before he had fully turned around, Scott had already kicked him right into the guts, causing him to tumble over.

“D-Don’t let him reach inside his pocket!” Peter screamed, completely out of his mind. If Tony managed to activate the sonic taser, Scott would be fucked.

A second later, though, the door next to the elevator burst open and _Bucky_ , Steve, Nat, Rhodey, Bruce and Hope stormed into the bunker.

* * *

After Hope had opened the hidden bunker door from the inside, they rushed down the stairs next to the elevator as quickly as possible. They burst through the door, and Bucky’s heart clenched when he heard Peter’s loud cry of relief. He was cuffed to the wall with his left hand, looking extremely worn-out and panic-stricken.

Although Bucky wanted nothing more than to pull him into his arms, he had to deal with Tony first. Right now, he was wrestling with Scott, who tried to pin his arms down so he wouldn’t be able to release his suit.

Whereas Bucky, Steve and Nat rushed over to help him, Bruce, Rhodey and Hope took care of Peter. When they reached Tony, Bucky immediately pushed the others away and straddled him, his right hand closing around Tony’s throat. He raised his metal arm and clenched his fist, ready to turn Tony’s head into a bloody mess of-

“NO!” Everyone in the room froze, turning their heads at Peter’s heart-piercing scream. Even Tony stopped struggling.

Peter looked at Bucky desperately, his left hand still cuffed to the wall. “Don’t do this, James, please!”

Tony let out a sob, but Bucky barely heard it. “Pete, that _fucking piece of shit_ kidnapped you.”

“I- I know, but I don’t want him to die. I d-don’t want anyone to die. Please don’t kill him… h-he should go to jail.”

“What if he manages to break out? What if he-”

“Please,” Peter sobbed, “ _please!”_

Bucky cursed. He wanted to kill Tony with every inch of his body, but if Peter didn’t want him to- _Fuck_! _Tony didn’t deserve to live._ With an angry scream, he let his fist come down.

* * *

Peter’s heart stopped for a second, but Bucky didn’t hit Tony; instead, he hit the floor, cursing once more. “If you _ever_ hurt him or anyone else again, I’ll break your fucking bones one by one.”

Tony was unable to respond. He was crying so hard his whole body was shaking but Peter couldn’t bring himself to feel any sort of pity for him.

Just because he didn’t think Tony – or anyone else – deserved to die, didn’t mean that he didn’t hate him with all his guts. And yet… it hurt to know that this man had once been Peter’s life.

With tears in his eyes, he watched Bucky pinning Tony down until Steve and Nat had successfully restrained him. The key for Peter’s cuffs was inside Tony’s pocket, just like the sonic taser they took away from him. While Bruce fiddled with the locks, Bucky kneeled down in front of Peter, tears streaming down his face. “Are you okay?”

“H-How did you know it w-was him?” Peter sobbed, barely flinching when the man carefully pulled him into a hug.

“I just… I felt it. I’m sorry it took me so long, but I-“

“You s-saved me. That’s all that matters.”

Finally, Peter was freed from the cuffs, allowing him to wrap both of his arms around Bucky as well. Sobbing into his shoulder, he risked a glance towards Tony, who started at him full of hatred - and _regret._

“I’m sorry,” was the last thing Tony managed to choke out before Nat and Steve dragged him away.

_(Epilogue)_

“Watch out!”

Alarmed, Peter turned around, but it was too late to try and get out the way. With a scream, Bucky bumped into him and they both fell over, sliding down a few yards on the slippery, icy slope.

“I fucking hate you,” Bucky groaned whereas Peter was overcome by giggles.

“May I remind you that it was _your_ idea to go on a skiing trip?”

“Who could have known this was so fucking hard? I mean… look at all these… goddamn _ordinary_ , weak human beings wedeling down the slope as if it was the easiest thing in the world.”

“Skill comes with practice,” Peter said precociously, laughing when Bucky pouted. “Just kidding, let’s try to get up and somehow get down that slope alive.”

It was easier said than done because Peter was laughing way too hard at their ski slipping whenever they tried to get up. Bucky didn’t mind it, though; it was beautiful seeing Peter happy again.

Whereas Peter still struggled with overcoming his trauma of being kidnapped and held captive by his ex-boyfriend, Bucky had developed a severe guilt complex after finding out Tony had sexually abused Peter during his captivity, wishing he’d done something sooner. Peter told him over and over again that Bucky had done nothing wrong and that he was glad Bucky had been so cautious.

Even May had taken Bucky to her heart. She was endlessly grateful that he had saved her nephew from someone she had trusted blindly. She blamed herself majorly for not having any doubts, but both Bucky and Peter had assured her that she would have had no reason to distrust Tony.

“If any, I need to apologize to you, May,” Peter had cried, “I should have told you about Tony, but I was afraid you’d get him arrested or something. I am so sorry… I promise I’ll never keep anything from you ever again.”

All in all, the last two months hadn’t been easy for anyone, but things slowly started to get better. In an effort to get away from everything for two days at least, Bucky had invited Peter to go skiing over the weekend, fulfilling the promise he had made during their Snapchat flirt all those weeks ago.

Eventually, the two men reached the end of the slope. Glad about finding an empty table in the valley ski lodge, they sat down for a mug of hot wine punch and hot chocolate. They continued to make fun of their own inability to ski until the peaceful atmosphere was disrupted by Bucky’s phone. Frowning, he read Steve’s text.

“What is it?” When Bucky hesitated, Peter got serious in an instant. “Is it about Tony?”

“Um… yeah. His trial is set for January 20th. Are you _sure_ you want to give testimony? You heard what the D.A. and Fury said… There’s enough evidence to send him to the raft for _many,_ many years even without it.”

“I know, but I want to. And I… know I can do it.”

Bucky admired Peter for his strength. The public interest in the case was immense, and thousands of Iron Man stans still refused to believe that Tony was guilty of any of the crimes he had committed in the past two years, no matter how often the Avengers, SHIELD or Stark Industries released statements about it. Not even the heart-wrenching CNN interview Pepper, who was heavily pregnant by now, had given had managed to shut down all conspiracy theories.

“I’m just worried what seeing him will do to you and what questions his fucking lawyers will ask you and what the press will say and-“

Peter flashed him a sad, yet soothing smile. “James, everything will be okay. _We_ are going to be okay… You know why?”

“Why?”

Peter took Bucky’s hand, blushing terribly. “B-Because… Because I l-love you.”

Bucky’s stomach did a somersault. This sweet and perfect boy, who’d had to go through so much, loved him. _Him._ It was everything Bucky could have hoped for. Beaming, he brought Peter’s hand up to his lips, kissing his fingertips. “I love you too, doll.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess my endings are all either cringe as fuck or sad 😅  
> With this chapter I’ve completed my Devil Inside Me series. And wow, who would have thought that two out of three stories had a – somewhat – happy ending? 😉 I hope you enjoyed reading the series - I definitely enjoyed writing it. It’s mind-blowing to me that I published the first chapter of the main story 45 weeks ago, and now, one original and two alternate endings later (47 chapters in total!), here we are. I want to thank everyone who has read this AU or all three stories, even, and supported me with kudos and – especially - comments. It meant the world to me!  
> If you want to know if there is any way Peter and Tony could have ended up happily ever after, feel free to check out the [Starker AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22119184/chapters/52793800) or read/finish the main story.  
> I am soon gonna publish new (light and dark) stories, including a Starker one, so make sure to subscribe to me as an author if you are interested <3 Thanks again and take care, stay safe <3


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